A Stitch in Time Saves Nine
by 3rd.Apple
Summary: My take on what could, or should happen in Stargate: Continuum. Warning: follows some, but not all spoilers. When Teal'c and Vala disappear, the rest of SG1 must rely on a new acquaintance to get them back. Rated T for safety. Formerly "A Stitch in Time"
1. Prologue

_Disclaimer: Stargate and its characters are not __mine,__ I'm simply borrowing them for my own, and my readers', entertainment. No copyright infringement intended._

_A/N: I wasn't going to do this. I promised myself that I wouldn't…and yet here I am…doing this yet again. I've had this story stuck in my head for a long time, but didn't think it fit since I read spoilers from the second movie, "Continuum." But once again, my muse won out. So here is my take on what could, or should, happen in "Continuum." WARNING: I'm only sticking to the earliest of __spoilers,__ the ones about Ba'al changing the timeline…any recent ones don't exist in my little world. ENJOY!_

**Prologue –**

Something was wrong, terribly wrong. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. Granted, she'd always been brilliant, but there were no extra letters after her name, so technically (in the eyes of the world, at least) she was no rocket scientist. But right now that didn't matter. What mattered was that everything was wrong. As she stood outside the fence, she stared at what should have been a bustling military base, but instead was eerily silent.

There were no guards at the gate, just a big sign that warned trespassers to stay off federal property. Turning around suddenly, she ran into the patch of trees that she had exited only a short time before. Dodging here and there, she pulled a keyless entry remote out of her pocket and dashed into her vehicle. Sitting down, she immediately started it and began scanning the area with the devices she had with her. Nothing.

Increasing the power and distance on the scanner, she swept the area once again, reaching into the deepest areas of the retired base. Again, nothing.

"Damn." She hissed.

Glancing over her shoulder, into the back of the vehicle, she stared for a long moment at the large device that took up much of the space. She knew what it was and what it was capable of, but after the stories she'd heard of the last time it was used, she wasn't keen on using it again. But she, of all people, knew that something had happened.

Suddenly it hit her, she might be the only one who knew that something had gone terribly wrong. After all, 5,000 years was a long time, anything could happen. She cursed again silently as she turned forward again and headed out of her hiding place. Stopping in an ideal location she once again set her scanner, only this time over a wider area and for a very specific signature. The signature showed up twice, the first she expected, the second surprised her. Of all places, the signatures were showing up at opposite ends of the earth.

Heading toward the second, and unexpected signature, she dialed into her onboard computer, entering the Air Force database remotely. She had to figure out what had happened to the team she had heard so much about. Of course, she expected that, if everything had changed as she thought it had, one of them would not be on Earth much less in the USAF database. When the login screen came up, she typed in her username and password:

Alexa Stephens, 1st Lieutenant, USAF

Password: Moebius

What her searches revealed greatly disturbed her.


	2. Changes in Time

_Disclaimer: See Prologue..._

_Spoilers: 117 "Solitudes",_

**Chapter 1: Changes in Time –**

This was truly a day to celebrate. In fact, as SG1 entered the gateroom, the entire room plus the control room broke into celebration and applause. The five member team knew that they were carrying the happiness of the entire SGC as they attended Ba'al's execution.

"You know," Mitchell said as they stood waiting for the proceedings to begin. "This damn well better be the last of his clones."

Vala smacked Cam upside the head.

"Ow!"

"Are you trying to jinx this Cameron?" Vala hissed.

"I don't believe in jinxes." Cam replied.

Sam and Daniel shared a look.

"Perhaps it is unwise to say such things Colonel Mitchell." Teal'c admonished.

"But…"

"What Teal'c is trying to say Cam, is that in the decade that we've been with the SGC we've seen a lot of things happen, and very rarely do they happen according to plan." Sam interrupted.

Cam harrumphed and crossed his arms, very clearly sulking. The other four teammates shared looks of amusement before turning back to the proceedings.

It wasn't long before the magistrate came out and began to read the counts against Ba'al. As he did so, several guards came out, escorting a cuffed Ba'al. Cheers went up throughout the crowd as he was brought forward and made to stand just behind the execution block.

As the magistrate finished reading from his list, he turned to Ba'al. "You have been found guilty of all these charges and are hereby sentenced to death by beheading."

Again, cheers went up around the plaza.

With a bit of struggling, the guards managed to get Ba'al kneeling down with his head hanging over the edge of the execution block.

"This seems rather archaic." Cam cringed. "But at least we know the snake will die with him."

"Indeed." Teal'c concurred solemnly.

As the executioner raised his axe above Ba'al's head, everything seemed to slip into slow motion.

The axe swung down toward Ba'al's neck.

Ba'al raised his head a bit and scanned the crowd until his eyes locked on SG1.

A knowing smirk spread across Ba'al's face and the smiles faded from the faces of SG1.

In a split second, time jumped back to normal as Teal'c, Vala, and Ba'al all disappeared. In an instant, the entire plaza was chaotic as people panicked.

This time it was Sam who hit Cam upside the head.

"Ow!"

"You just had to tempt fate didn't you?" Sam demanded as she made her way through the bustling crowd. "We need to get back to the gate now!"

Once the three remaining members were free of the chaotic crowd, they moved into a sprint all the way back to the gate. Sam, who arrived first, immediately began to dial the gate. By the time the other two had both arrived, she had already entered her IDC and was moving toward the active event horizon. Without comment Daniel and Cam followed Sam through.

What they found when they arrived stopped all three in their tracks. Honestly they couldn't decide what surprised them more, the fact that instead of standing in the gateroom at the SGC, they were standing in a cave of ice, or the fact that a young woman was waiting for them.

"Hoped I'd find you here." Alexa said as she stood from where she'd been sitting on a block of ice. "Course it was a long shot, but considering that you're SG1, I figured anything was possible."

"Who are you and where are we?" Cam demanded as he overcame his shock and raised his weapon at Alexa.

"I could be asking you the same thing." Alexa retorted. "I was expecting those two," she nodded her head toward Sam and Daniel. "But I don't know you."

"You know us?" Daniel questioned.

"Sort of, but that's a long story." Alexa answered. Turning to Cam who still held his weapon at her, she continued, "To answer _**your**_ questions: I am Lt. Alexa Stephens, USAF; and we are in Antarctica."

"That's not possible." Sam interrupted. "We removed the Stargate from Antarctica nearly a decade ago."

"I know Colonel." Alexa responded.

"You do?" Daniel stammered.

"I know a lot more about you and the SGC than anyone realizes." Alexa replied. "Unfortunately something's gone wrong."

"What do you mean wrong?" Cam demanded.

"Would you mind putting your weapon down, Sir?" Alexa ignored his question. "I'm a friend, and right now I'm probably the only one who remembers you for who you are."

"You said you didn't know me." Cam argued.

"No, I don't know who you are, but obviously you're a member of SG1, and for now that's enough. After all, it's been a few years since…" Alexa paused.

"Since what?" Cam demanded, still pointing his weapon at Alexa.

"This is a long story Colonel and I don't think this is the best place for it. I've already been sitting here for several hours and I know you won't last long in those BDU's. So if you can trust me enough to put down your weapon, perhaps we can go where it's a little more comfortable and warmer."

"Cam," Sam admonished. "If we really are where I think we are, we're going to need the Lieutenant's help to get out of here."

Grudgingly Cam put his weapon away. "Lead the way Lieutenant."

Slowly and carefully, the three members of SG1 followed Alexa up the icy incline and out into the daylight of Antarctica. Taking a moment to look around, Alexa finally consulted her compass and headed north. The others looked around also, but didn't follow.

"Just where are you taking us Lieutenant?" Cam demanded. "There's nothing out here."

Alexa turned around, with a knowing smile on her face. "Nothing visible to the naked eye Colonel." At that, Alexa hit the keyless entry button that she'd pulled out of her jacket pocket. Almost immediately the familiar form of a puddle jumper came into view right behind Alexa.

SG1 stood in stunned silence at the sight before them.

"But how…?" Daniel finally managed to stammer out.

"That's part of the story Dr. Jackson." Alexa explained.

"Daniel."

"Huh?"

"Call me Daniel."

**Λ**

Alexa had a feeling that the three members of SG1 were going to need proof that what she said was true, so once they were all settled into the jumper, she took off and headed directly to Cheyenne Mountain. They all stared in stunned silence at the sight that met their eyes. The evidence showed that Cheyenne Mountain hadn't been operating in years.

"But…"

"Where…"

"How…"

Finally Sam managed to stammer out a complete sentence. "What about the stargate?"

"I was here this morning, hoping that I would be able to talk to you, all of you. I was hoping that once you'd heard my story that I would be able to join the SGC. Unfortunately, this was how I found things. So I scanned the area with the jumper's sensors. There's no stargate inside the mountain. When it wasn't there, I took higher altitude and scanned the planet specifically for the stargate." Alexa explained.

"What did you find?" Daniel asked quietly.

"I picked up two very distinct stargate signatures. The one in Antarctica I was expecting." Alexa answered. "What I wasn't expecting was the signature that I found in the Arctic."

"What?!" Cam exclaimed.

"I checked it out." Alexa explained. There's a stargate on an old ship from the early 20th century that was deemed lost at sea. It didn't just get lost at sea, it got lost in the ice of the north."

All three remaining members of SG1 shared a look.

"Ba'al." Daniel said.

**Λ**



It took only a couple of minutes for Daniel to explain to Alexa what had happened before they came through the gate in Antarctica.

"Of course!" Alexa exclaimed. "Ba'al wouldn't go all the way back to the rebellion in Egypt – that would mean facing Ra. All he had to do was intercept the stargate on its way to the States." She ranted half to herself as she paced the small confines of the jumper.

"What are you rambling about Lieutenant?" Cam demanded.

"It all makes sense!" Alexa continued her rant.

"What makes sense Lieutenant?" Cam barked, finally getting her attention.

"Why I know about the change."


	3. Fitting the Pieces

_Disclaimer: See Prologue..._

_A/N: Thanks to those who have reviewed. Now…on with the story!_

_Spoilers: 819/20 "Moebius Part 1/2"_

_Last Time:_

"_What makes sense Lieutenant?" Cam barked, finally getting her attention._

"_Why I know about the change."_

**Chapter 2: Fitting the Pieces –**

"You want to explain how you even know about the stargate and the SGC?" Cam growled.

"It's all part of the same story, Colonel." Alexa responded. She bit her lip, before continuing. "A couple years ago you were supposed to have uncovered two very strange items in a dig in Egypt: a ZPM and a video camera. Did you?"

"How the hell…" Cam began.

"How do you know about that Lieutenant?" Sam cut Cam off.

"Same way I know about the stargate." Alexa answered. "My story begins with the version of SG1 that went back in time to retrieve the ZPM."

"How the hell…" Cam interrupted.

"If you will allow me a little leeway Colonel, I'm sure that by the end of my story most of your questions will be answered." This time it was Alexa who cut Cam off.

"Fine. Continue…"

"What you may not be aware of," Alexa picked up her story again. "Is that SG1 did mess up the timeline…initially. Having grown impatient with the situation General O'Neill, Teal'c, and you, Colonel Carter, instigated the rebellion in Egypt. Unfortunately it failed miserably and Daniel was forced to watch his friends being executed." Alexa caught the wince that passed briefly across Daniel's features. "Later, the Egyptians rebelled again, this time under the leadership of Daniel, unfortunately when Ra left the planet he took the stargate with him."

"Effectively changing the timeline." Daniel spoke up sullenly.

"Exactly." Alexa replied. "Needless to say, everything was changed. Daniel, you were teaching something…no one was quite sure what. Colonel Carter, you were an underappreciated secretary who never broke out of her shell, and General O'Neill was a retired cynic who owned a fishing boat. In that timeline, when the ZPM and video camera were found the three of you were called 

in to answer some questions. You eventually went through the Antarctica stargate to locate Teal'c, who did still turn against Apophis, but not before that timeline's Daniel was Goa'ulded." Again Daniel winced. "The three of you then went back to ancient Egypt to see where things went wrong, where you ran into the original Daniel."

"Anyone else getting a headache?" Cam mumbled.

"To make a long intro short, the alternate SG1 managed to realign the timeline, but they were all stuck in the past. Alternate Carter and O'Neill eventually married and had a daughter. After years of debate, Daniel finally convinced Sam that their story needed to be saved for posterity, so Sam created a program that could be interfaced with the jumper that would record all of the events that I just shared with you. Then, on his deathbed, Jack got into the jumper – which had been hidden for years – and flew it to Antarctica, where he hid it with the stargate.

"In the meantime, Daniel had been teaching Sam and Jack's daughter. He taught her languages, history, but most importantly he filled her head with stories about the adventures of SG1. Generation after generation passed these stories down to their kids. They were a family tradition – all the children went to sleep dreaming of space travel. Unfortunately most of the kids eventually grew out of the stories and never thought of them again. But a few in each generation believed the stories and kept them alive for the next generation."

"That's how you know about the stargate." Daniel marveled. "You're a descendant of the alternate Jack and Sam."

Alexa nodded. "My mom's sister used to tell all of us kids the stories of the people who traveled to different planets, saving the galaxy one space monster at a time. But my mother didn't believe. She would tell me that the stories were nothing but a bunch of fairytales passed down from generation to generation. She was always trying to discourage me from putting stock in the stories. But I was one of the few in my generation who believed the stories to be real. Unfortunately I soon became the only one to continue to believe. By the age of 10 I knew the stories backwards and forwards. In my spare time I would analyze the stories, try to figure out when they happened. I began to realize that the stories were pointing to something tangible. On my 15th birthday I figured it out. I knew that I had to go in search of whatever it was the stories were leading to.

"My mother, of course, threw a fit. So, two weeks after my birthday I ran away. I managed to sneak onto the local Air Force base and snuck onto the first transport out of there. I eventually made it to Antarctica. After a couple days of dodging the personnel at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, I swiped some equipment and a snowmobile in the middle of the night and headed toward the coordinates that I had discovered hidden in the stories. When I arrived at the coordinates I searched around in vain. I finally managed to find a small hole that led down into a crevice. I was so determined to prove that the stories were true that I followed it down into an ice cave. When I found the stargate I was out of my mind with excitement.



"It didn't take me long to find the jumper and hear the entire story from Daniel, Sam, Jack, and Teal'c. From that moment on I was determined to join the Air Force and eventually the SGC." Alexa finished.

"One question," Sam said after a moment of silence. "Where did you hide the jumper for all those years?"

"My parents live on a lot of land in Montana. There were a lot of underground caverns throughout our property." Alexa answered.

"Wait a minute." Daniel spoke up. "If you have the puddle jumper that went back in time, does that mean you have…?" He trailed off.

"Have what Daniel?" Alexa asked, purposefully being obtuse.

"Never mind." Daniel responded, deciding it was best not to bring up the time travel device if she didn't already know what he was talking about.

"So what's the plan?" Cam asked.

"Step one is going to be to find out where you are supposed to be Colonel." Alexa responded.

"What do you mean where I'm supposed to be?" Cam demanded.

"Before checking out the stargate in the Arctic, I checked the USAF database for Colonel Carter and Daniel Jackson." Alexa answered. "Daniel, of course, was nowhere in the database, Colonel, you're still a major, but a retired one."

"What?!" Sam exclaimed.

Alexa sighed. "According to your file, you made it into NASA 10 years ago. You went on five missions, including a two year stint on the international space station. After that you retired for personal reasons. It's not stated in your file, but I believe it may have been because you were pregnant as you gave birth to a son eight months later."

Sam gulped. "Did my file mention my spouse?"

"Yeah, you were married to a Carl Dobson, a scientist who worked for NASA. Apparently you met at work." Alexa nodded.

"Why don't I have any recollection of that? All I remember is the true timeline." Sam fumed.

"I don't know for certain, but I would guess that it has something to do with the fact that you were on another planet and came back through the wormhole. It's feasible that the wormhole kept you in a kind of bubble as everything changed." Alexa theorized.



"Is there any way to find out what's been happening in my life?" Daniel asked quietly, almost timidly.

"I did." Alexa responded kindly. Daniel looked up in surprise. "When I couldn't find you in the database, my suspicions were confirmed that things had changed, so I googled you."

"What did you find?" Daniel stammered out.

"You're a professor of ancient mythology at Colorado State." Alexa answered.

"Well, that's not too bad." Daniel admitted almost hopefully.

"You're also on a forced sabbatical." Alexa sighed.

"What? Why?"

"Eleven years ago you were laughed out of the professional circles because of your theories that the pyramids were built by a race of aliens." Alexa elaborated. "Fortunately you still had a few friends in academia who managed to get you a job at the university as long as you promised to follow the curriculum and not expound on your theories." Alexa paused. "You managed to stick to your promise for a decade. A year ago, you began to slowly and subtly bring up evidence that you believed proved your theories. Due to this you were given a semester of mandatory sabbatical. Basically they gave you time to decide which was more important your job or your theories."

"I guess so far we've been lucky." Sam muttered.

"How so?" Alexa questioned.

"Well, Daniel won't have simply disappeared from his job and I won't be considered AWOL."

Cam groaned. "But I might be."

"Just give me a minute, Colonel." Alexa said as she pulled out her computer and logged onto the USAF database remotely. Suddenly she looked up. "Umm, sir?"

"What?" Cam muttered dejectedly, already thinking of what he may be facing.

"You never told me your name."

Cam sat up in surprise. "Really?" Alexa nodded. "Oh, sorry…Cameron Mitchell."

"Nice to _officially_ meet you, Sir." Alexa smiled as she typed in his name. Several minutes passed as the four sat quietly in the jumper, waiting for the computer to connect to the database and spit out the requested information. "Crap." Alexa mumbled as she scrolled down the page.



"What do you mean, crap?" Cam demanded anxiously.

"You were officially declared MIA two days ago." Alexa answered as she continued to read. "A lot of your file is classified, making it impossible to know where you were actually posted to."

"Probably black-ops." Sam commented.

Alexa nodded. "That's what I was thinking. But it's going to be hard to figure out where he's supposed to be returning from."

"Why does he even have to be returning?" Daniel asked in surprise.

"Until we figure out what we're going to do to solve this problem, it will be easier if we can all move about freely." Alexa responded. "Wait, I may have a solution to our problem."

"What?" Cam insisted.

"You're commanding officer on your last mission. He's listed as the one to deliver the news to your wife and parents." Alexa responded.

"Wife?!" Cam exclaimed.

The others chuckled at Cam's reaction.

Sam was the first to sober up. "Cam's commanding officer won't likely tell us what we need to know."

"Under normal circumstances probably not." Alexa smiled. "But with a little persuasion and a story I think he might."

"Story?" Cam scoffed. "A black ops soldier is going to give up classified information because of a story?"

"With the right story, this one will." With that comment, Alexa turned her computer around so that everyone could see the page she was on.

"Colonel Jack O'Neill, retired."


	4. Showdown at the Lake

_Disclaimer: See Prologue..._

_A/N: I am so sorry for the delay in posting. My wireless has been taken down because they are preparing to put in a new system, so I had to wait until I could get internet before I posted this._

_Last Time:_

"_With the right story, this one will." With that comment, Alexa turned her computer around so that everyone could see the page she was on._

"_Colonel Jack O'Neill, retired."_

**Chapter 3: Showdown at the Lake… –**

"Guess we found Jack." Daniel muttered.

"Yeah, but how the hell are we going to convince him of the truth?" Cam grumbled.

"We'll figure something out." Alexa responded as she turned toward the controls and started up the jumper.

"Where are we headed?" Cam asked.

Alexa tipped her head toward the computer. "Last known address is a cabin in Minnesota. Any of you know where that is?" The shared glances were all she needed to see. "In that case, I'm going to need some directions. This thing doesn't exactly have GPS."

Several minutes later, Alexa had the jumper hovering over a cabin hidden away in the woods. They could see a graying gentleman sitting on the dock that stuck out into the lake next to the cabin.

"That's Jack." Daniel said from the co-pilot's seat.

Alexa nodded. After a moment she sighed. "We're going to need a car."

"Huh?"

Alexa looked over at Cam. "We can't exactly show up at his cabin in a puddle jumper. We don't want to freak him out too quickly. We need to be subtle."

Cam nodded. "There's a base not that far from here…at least, there used to be."

Once again, Alexa found herself on the USAF database. Within a matter of seconds, she had located a base within 50 miles of Jack's cabin.

"That's a little farther than I would have liked, but under the circumstances we don't exactly have a choice." A moment later, they were hovering just outside the base. "Under the 

circumstances, I'm going to have to be the one driving the car, so one of you is going to have to fly this thing."

Once again, the three members of SG1 shared looks.

"What's the problem?" Alexa asked in irritation.

"None of us can fly the jumper." Daniel responded.

"Why not?" Alexa's irritation was growing.

"We don't have the gene." Cam said.

"The what?"

"The gene." Sam repeated. At the look of confusion on Alexa's face, she continued, "The race that created this craft, created it so that only they could fly it. There's a special interface that requires a specific gene in order for this craft, and other pieces of their technology, to function."

"And I have this gene?" Alexa speculated.

"Obviously, since you've been able to fly the jumper." Sam replied.

"But how?"

"We're not exactly sure. We've always attributed it to the evolution of our species…" Sam began.

"Of course!" Daniel interrupted. "I can't believe I didn't see it before."

"See what Jackson?" Cam asked.

"Alexa is a descendant of Jack." Daniel stated as if it was obvious.

"Yeah, so?"

"Jack has the gene." Sam answered, understanding dawning. Suddenly her eyes grew big. "Oh my goodness." She muttered.

"What?" Alexa and Cam asked together.

Sam and Daniel shared a look. "Jack was always ahead of his time with that gene, but to go back 5000 years…" Sam muttered in awe.

"…5000 years could do a lot to the evolution of his gene." Daniel finished.



"So wait, you're saying that…" Now Cam's eyes grew big.

"Would someone explain to me just what is going on?" Alexa demanded.

"You are 5000 years closer to being an Ancient than anyone else on our planet." Daniel answered.

"And that means?"

"We're really not sure." Sam admitted.

**Λ**

After several minutes of discussing options, the four people in the jumper finally decided on a plan. Alexa would sneak onto the base, borrow a car from the motor pool and then drive several miles away to a preselected place where she would hand over the keys to Sam. They had decided against Cam driving because he was supposed to be MIA, and Daniel wasn't at all affiliated with the Air Force, so it fell to Sam to drive to Jack's cabin.

Once Sam was on her way, Alexa would hike back to Daniel and Cam at the jumper, fly back to the cabin, and hide the jumper somewhere safe in the woods. She and Cam would then, after she changed into her class A's, meet Sam at a preselected place a couple miles away from the cabin. Sam would then return to the jumper, while Alexa and Cam went to introduce themselves to Jack.

An hour and a half after setting their plan into motion, Alexa was pulling into the gravel driveway of Jack's cabin. Halfway up the driveway, Cam keyed his earpiece.

"Mitchell to Jackson, do you copy?"

"_Loud and clear Mitchell."_

"Has Carter returned to the jumper?"

"_Just got here Cam."_ Sam replied.

"Good, we're just arriving ourselves." Mitchell answered. "Commencing operation."

"_Copy that, Mitchell."_ Daniel answered. _"Testing remote mic."_

"Testing, testing. Testing one, two, three." Alexa spoke normally.

"_Remote mic is operational. We have a go. Going to radio silence."_

Cam gave Alexa a thumbs up as she came to a stop and looked at him. "We're a go."



"Good." Alexa said as she turned the car off and removed her seatbelt. "Stay here."

"What?!" Cam exclaimed.

"We're about to turn a man's world upside down, Sir. We should probably do this slowly." Alexa explained.

"And just how do you plan on pulling this off?"

Alexa simply smiled as she climbed out of the car. As she walked around the cabin, the sound of a barking dog grew closer. Simultaneously the lake came into view and a large golden retriever ran up to her, barking loudly.

"Quiet Thor!"

The large dog stopped barking at the command, but continued to wag his tail and sniff at Alexa's extended hand. Daniel and Sam gasped at the name coming across the remote mic that Alexa was wearing. Fortunately, Alexa managed to keep her military façade in place.

"Not much of a watch dog." A gruff voice spoke from the dock. "Too damn friendly."

Nudging the dog aside, Alexa continued her trek to the dock.

"Colonel O'Neill, Sir?"

"Retired."

"Yes, Sir."

A tense silence ensued. Finally, Jack glanced up at Alexa briefly before turning back to his fishing.

"What can I do for you Lieutenant?" Jack asked, finally giving Alexa the opening she needed.

"We need your help, Sir."

"I'm retired Lieutenant." Jack growled menacingly.

"I know, Sir. We're not asking you to come out of retirement."

"Then what are you asking?" Jack interrupted.

"For your help, Sir."

"Help with what?" Jack demanded.



"Saving the world, Sir."

Jack laughed mirthlessly, but when he looked up to see that Alexa was serious, the laughter died on his lips. "You're serious."

"Yes, Sir."

"Would you drop the damn 'sir' already?" Jack grumbled.

"Of course, S…" Alexa cleared her throat to cover up her slip.

"I tried saving the world once, Lieutenant." Jack continued sullenly. "It doesn't want to be saved."

"Unfortunately the world doesn't know how much trouble it's in." Alexa said.

"Oh? Let me guess, you do." Jack scoffed.

"I had a feeling you wouldn't believe me." Alexa replied calmly. "So I brought someone with me that might help change your mind."

"Oh? And who would that be?" Jack hissed. "There aren't too many people out there who I trust anymore, especially in the Air Force."

"What about me Colonel? You still trust me?"

Jack whirled around in surprise, nearly turning over the chair he was sitting in. His face paled as he took in the sight of Cameron Mitchell standing on his dock, dressed in dessert BDU's.

"What the hell!" Jack exclaimed.

"Good to see you too, Sir." Mitchell smiled wanly, remembering that he was supposed to have been captured.

"I watched you get shot, Mitchell. How the hell did you survive?"

Cam and Alexa shared looks of surprise and apprehension.

"Colonel, if you'll allow me to explain…" Alexa's words were cut off when she found a pistol in her face.

"I don't know what kind of game you're playing Lieutenant, but it ends now. I saw Major Mitchell shot full of holes, there was no way he could have survived."

"Colonel, please, if you'll just let us explain." Mitchell tried to draw Jack's attention away from Alexa.

"SHUT UP!" Jack bellowed. "You think that by bringing someone here that looks like Mitchell, that I'll talk? Well, you're wrong. When I handed in my letter of resignation I swore that my secrets were going with me to the grave, and that's exactly what is going to happen! Now get the hell off my property and don't bother coming back!"

"I'm afraid we can't do that, Sir." Alexa said, her posture exuding calmness.

"And why is that Lieutenant." Jack's voice dripped with disdain.

"Because we need your help."

"I'm not buying that bullshit, Lieutenant." Jack snapped. "The Air Force dragged me in once with that line, and it cost me my soul. It won't happen again. Now get off my property or I will shoot."

"Lieutenant…" Cam tried to pull Alexa away.

"We're not leaving, Colonel."

Later, Mitchell could never decide if she was talking to him or Jack.

The sound of the hammer cocking filled the air.

"You have to the count of 10, Lieutenant, or I'm going to shoot. 10…9…8…7…"

"What's it going to take for you to trust us, Sir?" Alexa asked, still showing only calm.

"…6…5…4…"

"Alexa, I don't think he's bluffing." Cam muttered.

"…3…2…"

"Neither am I."

"…1…"

The sound of the gunshot was deafening.


	5. Convincing Jack

_Disclaimer: See Prologue..._

_A/N: I am terribly sorry about the delay on this chapter guys…but between the end of the semester and not having internet access it was nearly impossible to put this up. But life is better now, so I should be able to post more regularly. Without further ado…_

_Last Time:_

"…_1…"_

_The sound of the gunshot was deafening._

**Chapter 4: Convincing Jack… –**

Cam had involuntarily flinched when the gun went off. Deep down he had a sinking feeling that their last hope of fixing the timeline was gone with Alexa's life.

"What the hell…?"

Jack's confused muttering caused Cam to open his eyes and face the inevitable. What met his gaze shocked and confounded him. The sound and sight of five more gunshots made him wince, but couldn't pull his gaze from the picture before him. Where only one bullet had been hanging suspended mere inches from Alexa's face, six now hung.

With the blink of Alexa's eyes, the six bullets fell to her feet harmlessly. A gasp from behind Mitchell caught his attention. He turned to see Daniel and Sam staring in dumbfounded shock at the sight before them. Slowly he turned back to see what would happen next, knowing instinctively that his teammates had moved closer to him.

"Now that I have your attention, Colonel, perhaps we can discuss what it is we came here to discuss."

"How the hell did you do that?" Jack demanded once he'd found his voice again.

"That's a long story, Colonel." Alexa hedged.

"One that I intend to hear, Lieutenant." Jack said, using his best Colonel voice.

Alexa sighed. "If it means that you'll listen to everything I have to say…" At Jack's nod, Alexa conceded. "Very well, if we may go inside…" An alarm on her wrist cut off Alexa's comment. Glancing down at her wrist, she cringed before taking off at a run.

"What the hell…?" Jack muttered.

"Alexa?" Daniel asked as she came toward the three members of SG1.

"The jumper's sensors are picking something up." Alexa explained as she sprinted passed them.

Sam and Mitchell immediately took off after Alexa, Daniel paused briefly to shoot a quick look at Jack.

"You might as well come too, Jack. This is why we came for you." Daniel called before following his team back to the jumper.

With a muttered curse, Jack took off after the others, wondering what he had gotten himself into and why he couldn't seem to stay retired.

**Λ**

Jack couldn't figure out how four people who had never been to his property before could disappear so quickly when he knew the terrain like the back of his hand. As he ran through a small clearing several hundred feet into the trees, he was surprised when a hand reached out of nowhere and pulled him into a small enclosed space that he hadn't previously seen.

Wiping a hand across his face to make sure he wasn't seeing things, Jack turned in a slow circle to take in his surroundings. He was in a small ship that was unlike anything he'd ever seen before. When he'd completed half a turn, he noticed the forest just a few feet away.

"How the hell…?"

"No time to explain now, Jack." Daniel said as he moved toward the front where the others were already looking at the screen.

Jack turned back around and followed the scholarly looking man whom he didn't know, but seemed to know him. When he got to the front of the ship, he was taken aback at the equipment and how advanced it looked.

"What is this?" Jack demanded.

"No time to explain now Colonel." Alexa quipped as she took the pilot's seat and started up the ship.

Jack inwardly panicked when he heard the back door closing and felt the ship begin to lift off.

"Where the hell are you taking me?" Jack demanded.

"Have a seat Jack and I'll explain everything." Daniel replied calmly.

"You can start by telling me who you are and why you act like you know me." Jack grumbled as he grudgingly took a seat.

"Of course, Jack." Daniel responded. "My name is Doctor Daniel Jackson, this is Colonel Carter, you already know Mitchell, and the spunky one at the controls is Lieutenant Alexa Stephens."

"What is she? Some kind of Air Force experiment?" Jack questioned.

"No, Jack. She's just as human as you and I are."

"Right." Suddenly, Jack's attention was pulled out the front of the jumper. "Are we…?" He was speechless.

"Yes." Alexa responded. "We're leaving earth's atmosphere."

"This ship has the capability of flying in space?"

"Yeah." Mitchell responded. "Cool, huh?"

"And you're really Mitchell? You didn't die in Iraq?" Jack stammered.

"Yes, Sir."

"Oh for cryin' out loud!" Jack mumbled as he massaged his temples.

"You better take some aspirin for that headache, Sir." Alexa admonished. "It's only going to get worse." She shot a quick glance over her shoulder before turning back to the console in front of her. "Damn."

"Considering everything that's happened in the last 10 minutes Lieutenant, that's not something I like hearing come out of your mouth." Jack responded.

"I understand, Sir. Unfortunately it's apropos." Alexa said. The others watched as two bright streaks of light flew from the ship and exploded a short distance away.

"What the hell…?" Jack demanded.

"Those were drones." Sam explained. "They're a type of weapon, very effective too."

"What did they just destroy?"

Alexa turned. "They destroyed a tel'tak vessel."

"A what?" Jack frowned.

"Tel'tak. It's a small scouting vessel used by the Goa'uld." Daniel responded.

"Did they manage to get off any type of signal?" Sam asked as she moved to stand behind Alexa.

Alexa fiddled around with her sensors for a minute. "Yes."



"Damn."

**Λ**

"So let me get this straight." Jack finally spoke. It had been a couple of hours since he had first seen the puddle jumper. They were now sitting comfortably in his living room, trying to explain to him why they were there, in as few words as possible. "History has been altered, but somehow you remember the changes…all of you. In the original timeline we worked together, traveling through space, exploring new worlds, and beating the bad guys – these Goold. And as for you…" Jack said turning to Alexa. "You know about all of this because in yet another timeline, we went back in time, got stuck there, and passed down the stories from generation to generation."

"That's it in a nutshell." Alexa responded.

Jack shook his head. "Apparently I didn't get out of the Air Force soon enough, 'cause I'm going crazy."

Alexa sighed and shook her head. "You're not crazy, Colonel. All of this is true."

"Right." Jack replied. "Aliens, spaceships, stargates, wormholes – it all sounds _**so**_ plausible."

"Jack we don't have time to argue semantics with you. We have anywhere from a few short hours to a couple of days before we're overrun by the Goa'uld." Daniel cut in. "I know, I know, you don't believe in them. But that won't matter to them. This one especially has a grudge against us and will do anything in his power to destroy us, even go back in time." Daniel sighed. "You're not believing in him isn't going to stop what he plans to do to this planet."

"So what's the plan?" Jack asked.

"Wait, you believe us?" Cam asked incredulously.

"Not totally, but for the time being I'm willing to play along. After all, the fate of the planet rests in our hands." Jack finished with a very sarcastic tone.

"Good." Alexa exclaimed mildly before removing everything from the coffee table. She looked up at Jack. "Do you have paper and a pencil?"

"Yeah."

A moment later, Alexa had spread several sheets across the coffee table. "Okay, so here's what we have working in our favor. We have a puddle jumper, access to two stargates, and three people with an intimate knowledge of the stargate program and Ba'al. The question is, what can we do with all of that?"

Everyone thought for a moment, trying to remember something that could help them. Suddenly a spark of memory surfaced in Alexa's mind.

"A ghost from above, came to put up a fight. Our heroes so beloved, fought back with streaks of light." Alexa quoted. When she noticed that everyone was staring at her in confusion, she elaborated. "That's a verse from one of the stories I grew up with."

"Streaks of light…could that be like those drone thingies that you shot from the jumper?" Jack asked.

"Was there a time that you used drones to fight?" Alexa reiterated.

"To fight a 'ghost'? I don't think so." Cam scoffed.

"Anubis." Daniel spoke up quietly.

"Huh?" Cam muttered.

"Of course." Sam responded. "The Ancient outpost in Antarctica…we used it to attack Anubis's fleet. It was stocked with drones."

"Who was this Anubis?" Jack asked.

"He was another Goa'uld." Daniel replied.

"But the story called him a ghost." Jack argued.

"He was half-ascended." Daniel clarified.

"Huh?"

"Another long story."

"Apparently there are quite a few of those." Jack muttered. "So how do we get to this outpost? Can we take the jumper?"

"Yes and no." Sam responded. "The jumper will get us there, but the outpost is buried beneath layers of ice. And even if we could get through all of that, we don't have the power source necessary to power the chair."

Everyone was silent again.

"What about the ZPM that was buried in the tomb in Egypt?" Alexa asked.

"That should have been found 2-3 years ago." Sam answered. "There's no telling where it is now."



"Daniel, couldn't you find out?" Alexa queried. "After all, you're still connected to the archaeological world."

"I can try. I have some contacts that might know something." Daniel responded thoughtfully.

"Excellent." Alexa announced. "So now all we need to do is find a way to get through the ice. How did you do it last time?"

"Jack had the knowledge of the Ancients downloaded into his head." Daniel called out from the kitchen where he was making a phone call.

"Didn't that take three days to take affect?" Cam asked.

"Yeah." Daniel responded before turning to talk to the person on the other end of the phone.

"But we may not have three days." Jack commented.

"Who else could possibly find a way to dig through several hundred feet of ice?" Alexa mused.

"Rodney McKay."

"You can't be serious Sam." Cam exclaimed in surprise. "Of all the people on this planet, you want to bring Rodney McKay on board. The man is an egotistical pain in the ass!"

"But an egotistical pain in the ass who gets the job done." Sam countered.

"Okay," Alexa said. "So we have the beginnings of a plan to get into the Ancient outpost." She paused. "We should have a plan B."

"Why?" Sam, Mitchell, and Jack all asked at once.

Alexa gave them a look. "This is SG1 we're talking about, things never go according to plan."


	6. Plan A in Action

_Disclaimer: See Prologue..._

_A/N: Sorry for the delay guys, between driving 8.5 hours home and settling into spending time with family, I nearly forgot that it was about time to post again. Don't know if I'll post again before Christmas, but if not, have a Merry Christmas!_

_Spoilers: 1020 "Unending"_

_Last Time:_

_Alexa gave them a look. "This is SG1 we're talking about; things never go according to plan."_

**Chapter 5: Plan A in Action –**

"They found it!" Daniel called through the house as he hung up the phone. "I told my friend that I was in town and would love the opportunity to see the artifacts…" he trailed off as he glanced at Alexa.

"Well, I can get you there, but how are we going to get the ZPM out of there?" Alexa responded.

"Leave that to us." Jack answered as he and Cam walked into the living room. "We're black-ops; we can get in and out without detection."

"Alright." Alexa replied. "Daniel where are they keeping the ZPM?"

"In the basement of their labs."

"Anyway that we can get blueprints so that we know what we're up against?" Alexa asked.

"Already working on that." Sam replied. "Just give me a minute…got 'em."

"Excellent." Alexa smiled. "Get what you'll need." She announced to all of them. "We'll leave in 15 minutes."

**Λ**

15 minutes later found everyone loading the last of the gear on the jumper and settling in for the job ahead. Just as Alexa sat down at the controls, the sound of a dog barking came closer.

"Thor!" Jack growled out. In an instant, the dog stopped barking and sat down, his tail still wagging.

"Thor?" Cam asked. "How in the world did you come up with that name?"

Jack shrugged as the back hatch closed. "Not quite sure. Just liked it. Why?"

"It's just that you knew a Thor in the other timeline…"

"That's it!" Alexa exclaimed, cutting off Cam.

"What's it?" Jack asked.

"Plan B!" Alexa was flying the jumper so she wasn't able to turn around, but she could feel everyone's eyes on her. "Oh come on…Thor!"

"Unfortunately Thor and the rest of the Asgard destroyed…"

"Sam wait," Daniel interrupted. "New timeline…"

Sam's eyes got big. "I didn't even think about that."

"Do you really think it's possible?" Cam interjected.

"Why not?" Daniel responded.

"Okay, Alexa." Sam said as she turned back to the younger woman. "Once we've gotten the ZPM, you and Daniel will go through the stargate while the rest of us continue working on plan A."

**Λ**

Seven minutes into the flight, Jack looked up from planning with Cam and glanced out the front window. His brow furrowed as he took in the sight before him.

"Why are we heading west? I thought we were going to D.C.?" Jack asked.

"Actually Colonel, we're heading southwest." Alexa returned.

"Why?" Jack reiterated, this time his annoyance was shining through.

"We have to stop at Daniel's house before flying to D.C."

"Why?"

"Daniel can't exactly show up to see a colleague dressed in BDU's. He's going to need something a little more professional." Alexa clarified.

Mumbling under his breath, Jack returned to making plans with Cam.

**Λ**

Nearly an hour later, Alexa set the puddle jumper down in a small park a few blocks from the lab they were heading to.

"I still don't like the idea of sending a civilian in." Jack muttered as he watched Daniel getting ready to head out.

"Jack." Daniel responded as if talking to a little child. "We've been over this. I've been doing this for over a decade. I'm not the naïve geek you first met all those years ago."

"In case you've forgotten Daniel, I've only known you for a few hours, so forgive my hesitancy in sending you in undercover." Jack shot back.

Daniel simply rolled his eyes. "It may be a while before I can get out once they realize that some of their artifacts are gone."

"Already thought of that." Alexa smiled as she handed Daniel her cell phone.

"And how is this supposed to help?" Daniel asked in confusion.

"Before you get downstairs, O'Neill and Mitchell should already be on the way out with the ZPM. Once they are, I'll give you a call, some kind of emergency. You'll have to cut your time short, and if we're lucky, it'll take them awhile to notice that the ZPM is gone."

Daniel shook his head in wonderment as he slipped the cell phone into his pocket. "Here we go. I'll meet you guys back here 15 minutes after your call Alexa."

Once Daniel was well on his way, Alexa took to the air again, this time landing on the roof of the lab building. Opening the back hatch, she turned to the other three Air Force officers.

"Daniel's walking into the building now." Alexa announced. "You're on."

Jack nodded curtly in answer to Alexa.

"We'll be back before you know it." Mitchell said, a cocky smile spreading across his face.

Sam and Alexa shook their heads as they watched the two men disappear into the ventilation shaft a few feet away.

**Λ**

Daniel was amazed how quickly he slipped back into the world of academia. It was almost as if the last 12 years just slipped away, like the SGC had never existed. _Which it technically doesn't in this timeline._ Daniel chided himself as he moved down the halls, only half listening as his friend talked.

Twenty minutes had passed since Daniel had entered the building and they were headed down the stairs to the basement. Daniel kept glancing at his watch, wondering why Alexa hadn't called him yet.

"Everything okay Daniel?"

"Um, yeah." Daniel plastered a smile on his face. "Just expecting a call from a close friend of mine."

"Guess you have a pretty full schedule while you're here in D.C."

"You know me…" Daniel hedged.

A soft chuckle was his only response.

Several minutes passed, and the two scientists were walking down the hall toward the storage room. Daniel was really starting to get nervous at this point. He was sure that something must have gone wrong.

"Dr. Jackson!"

Daniel paused and turned around, surprised to see someone running toward him.

"Yes?"

"You have a phone call upstairs. The caller says it's an emergency."

Daniel shot a glance at his friend before following the other scientist back up the stairs and to the closest phone.

"Hello?"

"_Daniel, why the hell aren't you answering the cell phone?"_

Daniel pulled the phone out of his pocket and looked at it. "Damn, I didn't even think to check if I had service. I'm sorry hon, how's your dad?"

"_Of all the idiotic…"_

"It's that bad?" Daniel infused his voice with concern. He paused briefly, trying not to smile at the ranting happening on the other end of the phone. "Of course I'll come…no it's not a problem…I'll be there soon…uh huh…bye." Daniel turned to his friend. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave."

"Of course. Is everything okay?"

"I don't know. She sounded pretty hysterical." Daniel replied. "Thanks for taking the time to see me, I'm sorry we didn't have a chance to see those artifacts."

**Λ**

"Well?" Daniel asked as he stepped into the puddle jumper.

Sam held up the ZPM with a huge smile on her face.

"So now what?" Jack asked as they all settled in.

Alexa turned and grinned at Jack. "Now I teach you how to fly this thing."

"Excuse me?" Jack exclaimed.

"Well, apparently the two of us are the only ones who can fly it, and since Daniel and I are going through the stargate, you're going to have to know how to fly this thing." Alexa's smile grew bigger.

"What do you mean we're the only ones who can fly?"

"It would take too long to go into the details, Jack." Daniel explained. "But suffice it to say, the advanced human race that built these ships made it so that only those who have a specific gene can use their technology."

"And the Lieutenant and I are the only ones with that gene?" Jack glowered.

"Yep." Alexa smiled, standing and offering the pilot's seat to Jack.

"This doesn't look so hard." Jack said as he took a seat. "So what is so special about this ship that you have to teach me how to fly it?"

"Everything is based on your thoughts." Alexa replied seriously.

"Thoughts?"

"Yep. You turn it on using your thoughts, you fly it with your thoughts, you cloak and uncloak it with your thoughts, and you attack with the drones based on your thoughts."

"Damn."


	7. Of Asgard and Dr McKay

_Disclaimer: See Prologue..._

_A/N: Happy Holidays everyone! Here's the next chapter. I'm not sure that I like where the story went after this, so there may be a brief period of time before I post again, we'll see. Enjoy and Happy New Year!_

_Spoilers: 109 "Thor's Hammer"_

**Chapter 6: Of Asgard and Dr. McKay –**

It was several hours later when the jumper finally landed in Antarctica, a few feet from the crevice that led to the stargate. They had managed to not blow anything up and had, after a brief mishap, also managed to not expose themselves.

**Λ**

_Flashback:_

"_Okay Colonel, we're already cloaked, so you don't have to worry about that, just take her up." Alexa instructed from the co-pilot's seat._

_Jack shot a glare in Alexa's direction before closing his eyes and thinking about flying. At first, nothing happened. Jack opened his eyes and was disappointed to see that they were still on the ground._

"_It's okay Colonel, I couldn't figure it out the first couple of tries either." Alexa reassured. Again, Jack shot a glare at her. She simply shrugged in response._

_Thirty minutes later, they had finally made it up off the ground and were flying away from the city and out over more rural territory. It was at this point that Alexa noticed something._

"_Uh, Sir?"_

"_Not now Lieutenant." Jack growled as he attempted to concentrate on flying._

"_Sir…the cloak!"_

"_What about it?" Jack groused._

"_It's off. If we're seen flying around in this we're going to start mass hysteria."_

"_How do I turn it back on then?" Jack demanded._

"_Think it, Sir!"_

**Λ**

As far as everyone could tell, no one had noticed the alien space ship flying through the sky. And if they were really lucky, air traffic control would think it was nothing more than a blip on the radar or a bunch of birds.

Alexa and Daniel stood in the back of the jumper, gearing up as they all discussed what was going to be happening over the course of the next several days.

"So we'll find McKay and get him to help us rig something to cut through the ice." Sam was saying. "Once you two get through to Cimmeria and contact Thor, if he doesn't offer you a ride, come back through the gate and these radios should reach us. If I remember correctly, the outpost isn't that far from here, we should still be able to pick up your transmission."

"Got it." Alexa said as she took the radio from Sam.

"Be careful." Sam admonished the two of them.

Daniel nodded and Alexa saluted before the two stepped out of the jumper.

**Λ**

Alexa was surprised at how cold she felt as she stepped through the stargate. Looking over at Daniel, all she received was a shrug.

"Sam could explain it to you." Daniel said. He waited for the beam from the hammer to disappear before heading away from the stargate.

Alexa shot a glance at the huge hammer that stood in front of the stargate before rushing after Daniel. After walking silently for several minutes, Alexa was getting antsy.

"Daniel?"

"Yeah?"

"What happened here on Cimmeria? Originally?"

Daniel sighed as he thought back to the two times previously that he'd been to this planet.

"The first time, we were caught off guard by the beam coming from the hammer by the stargate. Especially when it continued to scan Teal'c for several seconds. Jack attempted to move Teal'c out of the beam, but only managed to be transported along with Teal'c."

"Transported?" Alexa questioned.

Daniel shot her a look. "You don't know?"

Alexa shrugged. "The stories were put into verse to make it easier to remember and pass on. There's really not that much detail in them."

Daniel nodded. "Cimmeria was set up as a protected planet from the very beginning. The beam from the hammer is set up to specifically detect Goa'uld presence."

"Which is why it took Teal'c."

"Exactly. Anyway, Jack and Teal'c were transported to an underground cavern. We never really found out very much about it, because neither Jack nor Teal'c are very verbose." Alexa smiled at Daniel's comment. "Sam and I immediately set off to find them. We located a young woman who had been in the cavern and had come out the other side, Goa'uld-less. She led us to the exit of the caverns where we met Jack and Teal'c." Daniel paused. Alexa could tell he was having a hard time dealing with the memories.

"Daniel?" Alexa asked after several more minutes of silence.

"At the exit there was a cut out in one of the walls, it was the shape of a hammer. Anyone who didn't have a Goa'uld could step through without a problem, but the moment a Goa'uld passed through, it came alive and killed the Goa'uld but allowed the host to survive."

"So Teal'c couldn't pass through without losing his symbiote."

"Exactly."

More silence as Alexa pondered the story. "How did he get out?"

"I destroyed the hammer with Teal'c's staff weapon." Daniel replied, all the emotions at having to do that coming through.

"You were thinking about Sha're when you did that." Alexa murmured.

Daniel's head shot up as he stared wide-eyed at Alexa. "How do you know that?"

"You wrote the stories Daniel."

Daniel sighed and nodded. "I thought for sure that the hammer was our answer."

Alexa nodded and walked on silently, the two companions lost in their own thoughts.

**Λ**

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Cam asked as the three stood before a dilapidated apartment complex.



"This is the address listed for McKay." Sam shrugged.

Jack rolled his eyes at the other two. "Are we going to just stand here staring at the building or are we going to go find this McKay guy and get on with the plan?"

"Right." Sam responded as she moved forward.

A moment later the three were standing in front of the apartment that was supposed to be McKay's. Raising a hand tentatively, Sam knocked on the door. A loud scuffling could be heard inside just before the door was opened a crack. The only thing they could see was an eye staring at the three of them.

"What do you want?" A scratchy voice came through the narrow crack.

"Dr. Rodney McKay?" Sam asked.

"Who's asking?"

"My name is Dr. Samantha Car…Dobson. I'm an astrophysicist who up until a few years ago was a major in the Air Force working with NASA. This is Colonel Jack O'Neill and Major Cameron Mitchell, USAF." Sam introduced everyone.

"Retired." Jack mumbled just loud enough for Sam and Mitchell to hear.

"What do you want?" McKay grumbled again.

"Dr. McKay we need your help on a project." Sam replied.

"What project?"

Sam sighed. "Dr. McKay if we could but come in…"

"What. Project?" McKay demanded.

"A highly classified one Doctor!" Jack barked. "We are in a life or death situation and we need your expertise."

McKay's eye widened at the tone that Jack took. Unexpectedly, the door slammed shut. The three Air Force officers shared a look of surprise. Just as Jack made up his mind to kick the door down, the door opened to its full capacity.

"Sorry for the mess." McKay said as he ushered the three in, "I've been working on some new theories."

**Λ**



Daniel and Alexa had been hiking through the forest for what seemed an eternity when Daniel finally stopped. Looking around, Alexa couldn't see anything that stood out as a way to contact the Asgard, but when Daniel started clearing vegetation from a stone, she immediately moved to help.

Before long, Alexa could make out the shape of a cut stone. But what caught her attention was the brilliant red stone in the center.

"Daniel?"

"Hang on." Daniel responded as he grabbed her hand and touched the red stone.

The two were instantly transported into an underground cavern. Once there, Daniel immediately set to work going through the trials set up to test the people of Cimmeria. He was glad that he had been through this once already, but dreaded the reception he and Alexa would receive.

Within a couple of minutes, the traditional Norse version of Thor stood before them before dematerializing into the form that Daniel had become so accustomed to.

"Hey Thor."

Thor paused in the middle of his speech, his large eyes blinking slowly as he took in the two humans before him.

"You are not surprised by my true form." He blinked again. "You are not of the people of Cimmeria."

"No." Daniel confirmed.

"How is it that you know of this cavern and have passed the tests?"

"You may not believe us, Thor, but our people were once great allies of the Asgard." Daniel answered.

"Who are your people?" Thor asked.

"We are the Tau'ri, the people of Earth."

"We have not been allies of Earth since…" Thor paused.

"Since the Alterans." Daniel completed for him.

"How is it that you know that name? Earth does not have use of the stargate."



"That's why we're here." Daniel responded. "My name is Daniel Jackson. For the last 12 years of my life I have been a part of an organization that has worked closely with the Asgard and the Tok'ra to defeat the replicators, the Goa'uld, and most recently the Ori."

Thor blinked in what Daniel interpreted as surprise. "That name has not been mentioned in this galaxy in thousands of years."

Daniel sighed. "Our timeline was changed."

Silence greeted Daniel's statement.

"The system lord Ba'al managed to go back in time and intercept the stargate before its true uses could be discovered." Daniel clarified. Still only silence. "A year ago, you told us that we had become the Fifth race, joining the Asgard, Ancients, Nox and Furlings."

Thor blinked again. "What is it that you wish of the Asgard?"

"We need a way to fix our timeline." Daniel answered.

"It is not possible."

"Actually, it is." Alexa spoke up for the first time.

Thor simply looked at her.

"I have a device." Alexa continued. "It was created by the Ancients. It makes traveling through time possible."

Daniel stared in dumbfounded silence. "You have it?" He finally demanded.

Alexa nodded before turning back to Thor. "The problem is, I need to know when Ba'al went back, when he intercepted the boat."

"I cannot help you." Thor said and began to fade.

"I can save your people!" Alexa exclaimed.

Daniel stared at Alexa in shock and surprise. Thor's holographic image came back into focus.

"How?"

"Daniel said that in the other timeline you thought that Jack O'Neill held the key to the survival of the Asgard, something about Jack containing an advanced gene similar to the Ancients. Well due to another instance of time travel that I don't have time to explain, I am a descendent of Jack O'Neill. There are 5000 years between the two of us."



"I must speak to the council."

**Λ**

Rodney stared at the three USAF officers as if they'd all grown extra heads.

"Alien spaceships? Time travel? Wormholes that make it possible to travel to other planets?" McKay scoffed. "You must think I was born yesterday."

Jack scrubbed his hand across his face. "This isn't working Carter."

"I've noticed, Sir." Sam responded.

"Carter?" McKay looked suspiciously at the others. "I thought you said your last name was Dobson?"

"It is." Sam answered. "Carter was my maiden name."

McKay seemed to be accepting that explanation…for the moment.

"We're going to have to show him, Sam." Mitchell interjected.

Sam nodded. "Dr. McKay, if you'll come with us…"

"Uh uh, no way." McKay muttered as he stood up. "I know how you government types work."

Before anyone could react, Jack was on his feet and had injected something into McKay's arm.

"Sir!" Sam exclaimed.

"Oh chill Carter." Jack responded as he caught McKay. "It's just a tranquilizer. He'll wake up no worse for wear. This way we don't have to keep arguing with him, when he wakes up he'll be in the jumper and he can see for himself."

Sam shook her head as she followed Jack and Cam as they carried McKay's body on a field stretcher.

**Λ**

"What the…!" McKay exclaimed as he came to. He was about to lash out when he noticed his surroundings. "What is this? I've never seen anything like this."

Sam, who had been sitting across the jumper from McKay, smiled. "This is what we like to call a puddle jumper. It's a ship built by an ancient race."



McKay ran his hands over parts of the ship, opening compartments until he came to one that was filled with crystals.

"What's this?"

"The Ancients used crystal technology." Sam explained.

"You were telling the truth." McKay said in awe.

"Yeah sure you betcha." Sam replied.

McKay looked over at Sam. "I'll need to understand this technology if I'm going to help you."

Sam nodded.


	8. Secrets

_Disclaimer: See Prologue..._

_A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR! Okay, so I think I got a few things figured out. I'm still working on a few minor details, but those are coming in later chapters, so I thought I would go ahead and post this one. BTW, thanks to Anjirika for some great ideas._

**Chapter 7: Secrets –**

Although Jack and Mitchell were itching to get back to Antarctica and begin "digging" through the ice, Sam had decided that it was imperative that they stay in North America for a short time before returning. After all, if they were going to need anything, it would be easier to get it there. So a couple days passed as Sam familiarized Rodney with the workings of the jumper.

Meanwhile, Jack and Cam were getting antsy. It wasn't bad enough that Cam really didn't like McKay – a fact that Jack quickly picked up on – but it seemed that even a Rodney McKay with no memory of Sam Carter still found her attractive.

"It never fails." Cam muttered as he watched the two scientists from the front of the jumper.

"What never fails?" Jack asked distractedly, not bothering to look up.

"Rodney McKay." Cam hissed in disgust. "Has no memory of the last decade or the number of times that they've worked together, yet he still manages to be enamored and fall all over himself with Sam."

"You mean he acted like this in the other timeline?" Jack asked in amazement.

"Unfortunately." Cam sighed. Glancing once again toward the back of the jumper, he couldn't help but exclaim, "For cryin' out loud McKay! She's married, in this timeline and the other one!"

**Λ**

By the time Jack was flying the jumper over the ice of Antarctica, Rodney and Sam were already working on putting theories of what they could use to cut a hole through several hundred layers of ice into action.

"_Sam do you copy, Sam?"_

Sam looked up from what she was doing. Cam caught her eye and leaned over to pick up the radio that was sitting next to him.

"Back so soon, Jackson?"

"_We just came back through the stargate. How far along are you?"_



"We're just now getting back to Antarctica. McKay took a little convincing."

"_As did the Asgard."_

"They're going to help?"

"_Kind of."_

Mitchell shared a glance with Sam. "What do you mean kind of?"

"_I'll explain it when you pick us up. Over and out."_

Once Jack had heard Daniel say they were back through the stargate, he had turned the jumper in that direction. So it was only moments after Daniel ended the transmission when they came into view.

As the two entered the puddle jumper, Alexa immediately walked toward the front, ignoring the new occupant. Daniel, however, paused.

"McKay." Daniel nodded at him before moving forward.

"Do I know him?" Rodney asked Sam.

"In the other timeline you do."

"He doesn't like me very much, does he?"

"You two haven't always seen eye to eye."

"Have a productive trip?" Cam asked as Alexa came into the forward compartment, followed shortly by Daniel.

"Kind of." Alexa answered shortly. "Excuse me, Sir. I need to take over the controls for a moment."

Jack gave Alexa a look before relinquishing the controls. "What's going on Lieutenant?"

"We need to return to the States for a moment."

"Why?"

"I need to get something." With that, Alexa was silent. Everyone could tell that she was in a foul mood and that it was directed at Daniel.

**Λ**



It wasn't until Alexa landed the jumper that she spoke again. "Sirs, if you would come with me, I'm going to need some help lifting." With that, she walked out of the jumper and away toward the north. Jack and Mitchell shared a glance before following.

The three walked several hundred feet before Alexa halted. She knelt where she stood and started brushing away dirt, exposing a large wooden door, which she promptly moved to open. Jack immediately stepped forward and pulled the door open, exposing stairs leading to an underground cavern. Alexa slipped down into the cavern, followed closely by Jack and Cam.

Once they were inside the cavern, the two men noticed a crate sitting in a corner.

"Is that what we're here to get?" Jack asked, indicating the crate.

"Mmhmm." Alexa nodded.

"How the hell did you get that thing down here?" Cam asked.

"Down is always easier than up." Alexa smiled.

**Λ**

"What's that?" McKay asked as Jack and Cam came into the jumper carrying the crate they had pulled out of the cavern.

"No clue." Cam said as they set the crate down.

"Uh…" Sam said as she looked the crate over. "Is that going with us?"

"Yes." Alexa answered as she came in. "Sir, if you'd care to take over the controls?"

Jack smiled as he moved forward and took the pilot's seat. Within moments they were headed back to Antarctica.

Alexa found herself fiddling with things in the back of the jumper in order to avoid Daniel who was sitting up front with Jack and Cam. In the process she glanced over at the computer that McKay was working on.

"Those figures are wrong." Alexa commented.

"Excuse me?" McKay exclaimed, incensed at the accusation that he had done something wrong.

"Here and here." Alexa pointed out.

"How do you know that?" McKay asked as he fixed the problems.



Alexa shrugged. "Not sure, I've just always been good at equations, whether math or science related."

**Λ**

By the time they returned to Antarctica Sam, Rodney, and Alexa had made significant progress on finding a way to cut through the ice to reach the outpost. They had made a mutual decision that it would be best to use several high powered lasers to cut through the ice. Once they reached the coordinates that Sam had given them based upon her memory of the first time they did this, Alexa moved to the front.

"Are the sensors picking anything up?" Alexa asked.

"There does appear to be a structure below the ice, but the ice is too thick to know what it is for sure." Jack replied.

Alexa nodded, "We better get started immediately then."

Hours passed as the lasers cut through the ice beneath them. Alexa kept a close eye on the progress from the front, while Sam and Rodney stayed in the back to fix any problems that might arise.

"Sam!" Alexa called as she picked up a problem on the screen.

"Yeah?"

"We have a problem."

"What kind of problem?" Sam looked up from her work.

"We have incoming." Alexa's voice was strained.

"You sure?"

"I'm counting at least five ha'taks that dropped out of hyperspace near Saturn." Alexa sighed.

"That gives us just a few more hours." Sam mumbled.

"Hey Sam," Mitchell called. "If the Goa'uld attack isn't incentive enough you can always use this."

Sam smiled at Cam, who was holding up a lemon.


	9. Running Out of Time

_Disclaimer: See Prologue..._

_A/N: I hope everyone's holidays were fun and stress free (yeah right)! Anyway, here's the next chapter._

_Last time:_

"_That gives us just a few hours." Sam mumbled._

"_Hey Sam," Mitchell called. "If the Goa'uld attack isn't incentive enough you can always use this."_

_Sam smiled at Cam, who was holding up a lemon._

**Chapter 8: Running Out of Time –**

Sam had immediately gone back to work, doing what she could to boost the power of the lasers.

"Damn it!" Sam muttered.

"Would it help if the lasers were off line for a couple minutes Sam?" Alexa called from the front.

"We don't have time for that Alexa!" Sam grumbled.

"Maybe not, but I have something to do while they're offline."

Sam sighed. "A few minutes would be helpful."

"Great." Alexa answered as she silently asked Jack to move out of the pilot's seat.

"Lieutenant…" Jack drawled out, letting Alexa know he expected an explanation.

But Alexa remained stoically silent.

"Yep…definitely related to Jack." Daniel murmured under his breath.

Jack, Cam, and Daniel watched in silence as the view out the front changed from ice, to clear blue skies, to the darkness of space. Once they were in a steady orbit above Earth, Alexa fiddled with a few things and then finally spoke.

"Unidentified space ship, this is Earth defense vessel one, identify yourself."

"Are you…?" Jack asked incredulously.

Silence was the only response to both Jack's question and Alexa's hail.

"_Defense vessel?"_ A metallic voice filled the jumper. _"Earth has no defense vessel."_

"Ba'al." Cam and Daniel muttered together.

"Then how is it that we know you're out there, much less your location." Alexa replied.

"_Identify yourself."_ Ba'al demanded.

"I asked you first." Alexa responded. "But then again, that's another advantage; I already know who you are…Ba'al."

"_That is not possible. You should not have any knowledge of me or of the…"_

"The what?" Alexa pushed, a small smile on her face. "The stargate?"

Suddenly Ba'al's face filled the window in front of them.

"_SG1." _Ba'al's voice dripped with disdain. _"This isn't possible."_

"Apparently when you went back to change history, you forgot to take into consideration the fact that three members of SG1 were on another planet." Alexa grinned.

"_I do not know you."_ Ba'al sneered at Alexa.

"No, you don't. Let me introduce myself…I'm your worst nightmare."

Ba'al glared at Alexa for a moment before turning back to the three men he recognized. _"Where are my manners? Here I have a couple of your friends and I've not allowed for a reunion." _If it was possible, Ba'al's smile grew wider. _"My first prime: Teal'c and my queen: Qatesh"_

Daniel and Cam's faces grew ashen as Teal'c and Vala stepped into the screen.

**Λ**

"You just had to test his patience." Daniel nearly yelled after the transmission with Ba'al was over.

"Well, I had to get him to show his hand somehow." Alexa responded testily.

"By showing him ours?" Cam entered the fray.

"Please, I'm neither an idiot nor a child." Alexa fumed. "Ba'al doesn't know about the outpost, he doesn't know that Sam's with us, or McKay for that matter, he doesn't know that Jack has no recollection of who he is, and he doesn't know who I am or what I'm capable of."

"That's the problem!" Daniel retorted. "Neither do we."



"We have work to do." Alexa bit out. "Sam, how are you guys coming?"

"Just about have it." Sam called from the back. "By the time we get back to Antarctica we should be able to get through the ice."

"Good."

**Λ**

Two hours later and Alexa hadn't said another word to any of the guys, except McKay. They had continued cutting through the ice with the lasers, but so far the progress had been slower than desired.

"Sam we don't have time for this!" Alexa complained. "Ba'al will be here in less than an hour and we've barely made any progress whatsoever."

"I don't hear you offering any solutions." Rodney retorted.

Alexa rolled her eyes as she removed a panel from the floor of the jumper. Lying down, she began to fiddle with the inner workings of the jumper.

"What are you doing, you're going to blow us all up!" Rodney screeched.

Alexa's head came up. "I'm not going to blow us up." She grumbled. "I was raised working on cars…"

"This is not a car!" Rodney interrupted. "It's not even Earth manufactured!"

"I've had this thing for 10 years McKay!" Alexa declared. "Ten years is a long time to study something."

Rodney sat down on one of the benches, muttering to himself.

Alexa smiled to herself as she stuck her head back into the "bowels" of the jumper. Within a couple minutes, the power output was bumped up by 15 percent.

"Well, that's better," Sam said.

"But…"

"But it's not enough."

"Damn."

**Λ**



After several more minutes of tinkering with the ship's inner workings, Alexa threw up her hands in frustration. Nothing was working. She just couldn't seem to get anymore power from the lasers. Suddenly, a look of glee spread across her face as she sped into the forward compartment.

"Sam!"

"What?" Sam asked from right behind her.

"Take a look at the structure of the building and the ice around it."

"Hmm." Sam mumbled as she took it all in.

"Do you think a couple well placed drones would speed up the process any?" Alexa asked with a smile.

"If we put one here and here…" Sam said thoughtfully as she pointed out two spots on the computer screen. "It might make a difference."

"Think you can handle that, Sir?" Alexa turned a cheeky smile to Jack.

"Yes." Jack bit back. "But you'd probably have a better chance of hitting the exact spot." He smiled.

Alexa nodded and took the pilot's seat. Pulling up several hundred feet above the ice, Alexa sent off a drone to each of the points that Sam had mentioned. Two identical sprays of snow and ice flew into the air. Flying back over the coordinates, Alexa was pleased to see that about half the ice had been blown away and they were now able to clearly delineate the layout of the outpost.

"It looks like there's a hatch for the puddle jumper on the north side of the structure." Alexa commented as she studied the scans. "That should be our focus for getting in." Alexa glanced at the screen before her. "We have less than twenty minutes left."

Sam nodded. "We need more power."

"A lot more…"

A blinding white light interrupted Alexa's comment.

"Thor!" Four voices exclaimed simultaneously.

"Greetings." Thor responded.


	10. Plan A Take 2

_Disclaimer: See Prologue..._

_A/N: A whole new semester has begun…I've moved in to my apartment…and I suddenly have less time to write…Don't worry, I will finish this, but you may have to have a little patience as I settle in to the new semester. Thanks so much for the reviews…they're inspiring!_

_Last time:_

_A blinding white light interrupted Alexa's comment._

"_Thor!" Four voices exclaimed simultaneously._

"_Greetings." Thor responded._

**Chapter 9: Plan A, Take 2 –**

"I...i…is th…that…?" Rodney stammered.

"The council has agreed to your proposal Alexa Stephens." Thor continued, ignoring the cowering man in the back of the jumper.

"Good." Alexa answered.

"This crystal contains all the necessary information." Thor said as he held out an Asgard crystal. "It is all that the council can give."

"Thank you Thor." Alexa said as she took the crystal. She bit her lip in thought. "Would it be possible for you to assist us in something else?"

"What assistance do you require?"

"Our lasers aren't working fast enough. We need to get into the Ancient outpost beneath us."

Thor studied the picture before him out the front of the jumper before disappearing.

"Guess that means no." Jack cracked.

"_I am afraid that my weapons are not capable of the calibration necessary to break through the ice without damaging the outpost, Alexa Stephens."_ Thor's voice radioed in.

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"What about the beaming technology?" Cam exclaimed. "Thor, could you beam us into the outpost?"

"_There is no way of knowing the current conditions within the outpost. It is likely that you would rematerialize inside a block of ice."_ Thor replied.

"Damn." Mitchell muttered.

"It's too bad he doesn't have a set of rings." Daniel said off-hand.

"That's it!" Sam exclaimed.

Everyone looked at Sam in surprise.

"What's it?" Alexa asked.

"The rings."

"Sam, Thor doesn't have rings on his ship." Daniel admonished.

"No, but the ha'taks will."

**Λ**

"Are you insane?" Daniel exclaimed after Alexa turned off the audio transmission with Thor. "You seriously want to risk all our lives on a ha'tak just to ring down to the Ancient outpost where we are then going to destroy said ha'tak?"

"Not all our lives no." Sam defended herself. "Only a couple of us would need to go." Sam sighed. "Think about it Daniel, the jumper is cloaked. Whoever remains here could continue to work through the ice. Of course, either Jack or Alexa would need to be among those who go up to the ha'tak because they're the only ones who can work the chair."

"What about the fact that using the ring platform will alert Ba'al to the fact that there is a ring platform on earth? Don't you realize that he will promptly send jaffa down to attack us?" Daniel argued.

"That's why Sam and Mitchell would both go with Colonel O'Neill." Alexa interrupted.

"Excuse me?" Jack interjected.

"Sam needs to go with you because she has the best understanding of both Goa'uld and Ancient technology. But you'll need Mitchell because you'll be making your way through highly fortified halls of an enemy ship. On top of that, having both Sam and Mitchell there to fight off the jaffa will be helpful until you can destroy the ships above." Alexa explained.

"I get that." Jack said slowly. "What I don't understand is why you think that I, who has very little experience with Ancient technology, should be going instead of you, who has a much greater understanding of it."



"Because I need to be here setting in motion the plan that the Asgard helped with." Alexa answered.

"Plan B?" Mitchell asked.

Alexa shook her head. "The second part of Plan A."

"But…"

The jumper's alarms interrupted Jack's comment.

"The ha'taks are closing in." Alexa sighed. "We're running out of time, you need to get to that chair now!"

"Fine." Jack grumbled. "Carter, Mitchell suit up. We're out of here in five."

Alexa smiled as she turned to let Thor know what was going on.

**Λ**

"_Good luck in your endeavors Alexa Stephens."_ Thor said after beaming the three Air Force officers onto one of the approaching ha'tak vessels.

Alexa watched as the Asgard ship disappeared into hyperspace. "Well, I guess we're on our own." She turned to the two men still with her on the jumper. "McKay, make sure that the lasers have as much power as we can possibly give them. Once you're done with that, Daniel is going to need your help."

"Need his help with what?" Daniel asked hesitantly.

"With unpacking that crate."

"That's why you didn't send me with the others." Daniel replied.

Alexa nodded. "You already know the plan and I'm going to need help unpacking that crate and setting everything up, especially seeing as I can't exactly leave the controls." Alexa explained.

"And this way you don't have to explain to anyone else what is in the crate." Daniel sighed.

"Exactly."

"There's one thing I don't understand." Daniel continued, "Why not just use it? Why bother crating it up and storing it away? You knew even before we came back through the gate that the timeline had been screwed up. Why bother with Jack, McKay, the Asgard, or defeating Ba'al?"



Alexa looked up at Daniel. "This wasn't something that I could do on my own. That and I had no idea when I would be able to do this or how things would turn out. I had to make sure that all my bases were covered."

**Λ**

Although they did know that they wouldn't be landing in a block of ice, the three officers really had no idea what they might be beamed into the middle of. It turned out that they were beamed down right behind a jaffa patrol.

The blinding white light of the Asgard beaming technology surprised the jaffa as they patrolled the halls of their god's ship. A firefight ensued. Fortunately for Sam, Jack, and Cam the jaffa weren't exactly expecting to be fighting the enemy just yet, while the three officers were expecting the worst. The fight didn't last long, in fact, less than a minute after materializing, the three were sneaking down the halls unhindered.

"So this is a Goa'uld ship?" Jack whispered to Mitchell as Sam checked the hall ahead.

Cam simply nodded his head before following Sam as she motioned to them to do so.

Thor'd had a pretty good idea of the layout of the ha'tak, so he had managed to beam the three in near one of the ring rooms, so they hadn't had far to go. Fortunately, they didn't run into another patrol before making it to the room. _Un_fortunately, it was mere seconds before entering the ring room that a large number of jaffa started attacking from every side.

Sam and Mitchell immediately began shooting the jaffa coming from the opposite direction, while Jack hunkered down and shot at the jaffa coming from behind. In a matter of minutes, Cam turned and started firing along with Jack.

"Sir! You need to get inside. This plan is pointless unless we get you down to that outpost."

"Not gonna happen, Mitchell." Jack yelled as he continued firing. "I have no clue how to activate the rings, and there's no way in hell that you can hold back all these jaffa by yourself." He continued to yell over his shoulder, "Carter!" Before another word could leave his mouth, three streaks of blue electricity flew through the air, and the three Air Force officers were down for the count.


	11. Foiled

_Disclaimer: See Prologue..._

_A/N: I know, I know…I'm a horrible person for leaving you hanging for so long. I'm sorry, it's been a long and busy week and weekend. But here you go, Chapter 10!_

_Spoilers: 820 "Moebius Part 2"_

_Last time:_

_Before another word could leave his mouth, three streaks of blue electricity flew through the air, and the three Air Force officers were down for the count._

**Chapter 10: Foiled –**

McKay managed to get another 10 percent power increase to the lasers before declaring the impossibility of gaining any more. At which point, Daniel moved to the back and began unpacking the crate with Rodney's help.

"You know, this thing is in pretty good shape considering how old it is." Daniel exclaimed as the last of the crate was thrown out the back of the jumper to make room.

"Daniel," Alexa spoke condescendingly. "This is Ancient technology – when was the last time you saw it go bad due to age?"

"Fine." Daniel grumbled. "So how do we hook this up?"

"_I have called your bluff Lieutenant."_ Ba'al's metallic voice once again filled the small jumper, interrupting Alexa's instructions in the process.

Alexa reacted quickly. In the split second before Ba'al's face appeared on the screen, she closed the bulkhead doors, effectively locking Rodney and Daniel in the back of the jumper.

"Really?" Alexa questioned. "How odd, considering I wasn't bluffing."

"_Did you really think that I wouldn't notice SG1 coming aboard one of my ships?"_ Ba'al smirked. _"What were you trying to do? Destroy my ships from the inside? You've lost Lieutenant. SG1 is in my custody and will live just long enough to see their planet destroyed and enslaved."_

Alexa schooled her features so Ba'al wouldn't know how his announcement had affected her. "Do you know what happens when you assume Ba'al?" She paused waiting for a reaction, when none was forthcoming, she continued, "No? Well, let me enlighten you. When you assume, you make an ass out of you." Alexa smirked at the fury Ba'al couldn't contain.

"_You will pay for your insolence!"_

"I could say the same for you Ba'al." Alexa retorted. "See you on the flip side!"

**Λ**

Jack groaned as the fingers of unconsciousness slowly released him from their grasp. Every bone in his body ached. Several minutes passed before he began to remember where he was and what had happened. Bolting upright, Jack grabbed his head as it felt like it was going to explode.

"You shouldn't move so quickly, Sir."

"What the hell happened Carter?!" Jack retorted with a raspy voice.

"We were zatted, Sir."

"Excuse me?"

"The zat'ni'katel, Sir." Carter winced at the lingering effects.

"Zatnick-a-what?"

"Zat'ni'katel, Sir. You shortened it to zat, decided it was easier to say."

"You want to explain what exactly this zat did to us Carter?"

"It's an energy weapon, Sir. The first shot stuns, the second kills, and the third…" Carter paused. "Well, it disintegrates."

"Oh." Jack replied as he was finally able to open his eyes. He stared at Sam for a second before taking in their surroundings. "This is not good."

"SG1 has been in worse, Sir." Cam finally spoke, having decided to let Sam answer Jack's questions while he let his head stop spinning.

"Oh really?" Jack drawled.

"Actually, Sir, he's right, we have." Sam confirmed.

"And how have we gotten ourselves out of these worse situations?" Jack questioned dubiously.

"It's been different every time, Sir. But I'm sure we'll come up with something." Sam's voice faded away as the sound of approaching footsteps accosted their ears. She shot a glance at Jack who nodded his understanding. They couldn't let the enemy know that he didn't know anything.

"Teal'c, buddy, good to see you again!" Jack exclaimed as the Jaffa stood before the cell.

"I do not know you." Teal'c replied.



"Sure you do, Jack O'Neill – friend, companion, brother in arms." Jack replied with a smirk on his face. If there was one thing he was good at it was confusing people and pissing them off.

"Kree!" Teal'c exclaimed.

Jack shot a surreptitious look at Sam who shook her head just enough for Jack to catch it.

"Look, I understand that you don't remember me, I wouldn't either in your position. However, inside the pack that you took from me is a camera." Jack continued. "It's yay big with what looks like an eye on one end. On that camera is irrefutable proof that I'm not lying, we do know each other."

"Jaffa kree!" Teal'c barked as he turned to one of the jaffa guards standing nearby, who quickly left the room and returned several minutes later carrying one of the packs.

Jack seriously hoped that the jaffa guard had actually grabbed his, because if he picked up Carter's and they found the ZPM, their plan could be decimated. He sighed with relief, when Teal'c pulled out the small silver video camera.

"Is this what you speak of O'Neill?"

"That's it."

"How does it work?"

Jack motioned for Teal'c to pass it over, the Jaffa did so warily. Sensing this, Jack turned it on quickly and passed it back to the Jaffa.

"_Um, Teal'c, you should say something."_ Daniel's voice said from the camera.

"_The Jaffa are free. False god that he is, Apophis is long dead. A new medicine, tretonin, has liberated us from our dependence upon symbiotes. The Jaffa have risen up as brothers and sisters and defeated the Goa'uld. You have a son, Ry'ac, who is now married and a strong leader among the newly-formed Jaffa nation. If all these things have not come to pass, you must believe that the present in which you now live exists only because the past has been mistakenly altered. It must be restored."_

"What trickery is this?" Teal'c demanded as he looked up.

"It's not a trick Teal'c." Sam said as she stepped forward. "For 11 years we fought side by side as teammates and friends. All of that was changed when Ba'al went back in time and removed the stargate" Sam paused, "the chappa'ai from the equation."

Teal'c stared at the three humans for a moment. Abruptly, he turned and walked away without a word.



"Well, that went well." Cam muttered.

**Λ**

"We have to do something!" Daniel nearly yelled. "We can't just leave them up there!"

"I am aware of that Daniel." Alexa responded. "But until we get into the outpost there is nothing that we can do." She sighed. "Once we get into the outpost I'll ring up to the ship and get them out."

"No, I'll do it." Daniel demanded. "You need to stay in the outpost and run the chair."

"I can't." Alexa snapped.

"Why not?"

"They have the ZPM."

"Damn it." Daniel sighed. "I'm coming with you."

"No."

"But…"

"Daniel, the moment I use the ring platform Ba'al will start sending troops down. You and McKay are going to have to stay and defend it until I can bring the others down." Alexa explained.

"And how do you plan on doing that while Ba'al is sending Jaffa down?" Daniel argued.

"I'll cross that bridge when I get there."

**Λ**

Jack had slumped against the wall while Sam and Mitchell worked on finding a way out of the cell. They had pretty much given up on Teal'c helping them, and had thus set to work rescuing themselves. The sound of approaching footsteps made them pause and move to less incriminating stances.

"SG1." Ba'al drawled as he stopped in front of the cell, an evil smirk on his face. "I have to say that I am actually quite pleased that you remember. It makes this victory sweeter."

"You haven't won yet, Ba'al." Sam retorted.

"Oh no?" Ba'al smirked.



"We're SG1, we always have an ace up our sleeve." Cam said.

"You really think a little girl with one ship can defeat me?" If possible Ba'al's smirk grew.

"_Jack."_

Jack was suddenly very glad for his black ops training. He could have sworn that he just heard Alexa, but looking at his teammates he realized they hadn't heard anything.

"_Jack, can you hear me?"_

_This is just a delusion._ Jack thought to himself. _It's just wishful thinking that we really do have an ace up our sleeve._

"_You're not going crazy Jack. And that ace up your sleeve just got better."_

"You're right Ba'al." Jack interrupted, a shit eating grin spreading across his face. "A little girl with one ship can't beat you. But it wouldn't be an ace if you knew about it."


	12. SAR Part 1

_Disclaimer: See Prologue..._

_A/N: So sorry for the delay in posting guys, it's amazing how quickly time passes in RL. So here's the next chapter._

_Last time:_

"_You're right Ba'al." Jack interrupted, a shit eating grin spreading across his face. "A little girl with one ship can't beat you. But it wouldn't be an ace if you knew about it."_

**Chapter 11: Search & Rescue Part 1–**

Daniel hadn't been very happy with Alexa's decision to leave him with McKay in the outpost. Even so, he knew it was the right course of action, so he made his way to the back where McKay was tinkering away.

Once Daniel was gone, Alexa started thinking through her plan to find and rescue the missing members of the team. Unfortunately, there was no way to know exactly what ship they were on. She tried scanning the ships, but there were too many life signs aboard to be able to pick out the three members of SG1.

Alexa sighed and hit her head on the console. "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"

Sitting up slowly, and with a headache, Alexa looked behind her to the medical kit. She looked at the console and back at the medical kit. Stretching out her right hand she tried to reach the kit and remain at the helm.

"Daniel could you…" Alexa trailed off in shock.

"Could I what?" Daniel asked as he came forward. Seeing the look of shock on her face and the bottle of aspirin in her hand, he quickly put two and two together. "Did you just…?"

Alexa nodded. "How?"

"Probably the same way you stopped those bullets." Daniel answered.

Alexa's eyes shot to Daniel's in shock. "In the excitement of the past few days I'd completely forgotten about that." She looked down at the bottle of aspirin in her hand. "All of my life random things like this have happened, but I never understood why…"

Daniel smiled. "Yeah you do, you just haven't put it all together."

"I don't understand."

Daniel frowned. "You told the Asgard that you had the answer…"



"I was pulling at straws, Daniel. You had told me so much about the Asgard I just pulled from that to get them to help."

"You really don't understand?"

Alexa shook her head.

"Oh boy." Daniel muttered as he wiped his hand wearily across his face. He sighed and took a seat. "We don't know that much about the Ancients. We've only managed to glean bits and pieces over the years. From the times Jack and I downloaded the knowledge of the Ancients into our heads we've learned that they were smart – due mostly to the fact that they use a higher percentage of their brains. We've also learned that because of this, they also had some mental abilities, including telekinesis."

"I guess that explains the bullets and the aspirin bottle." Alexa said thoughtfully. "You made a comment about me being 5000 years more advanced than Jack. What did you mean by that?"

"When we first met the Asgard they were extremely interested in Jack. It seems that he had a more advanced version of the gene than anyone else they had known since the Ancients ascended."

"And with me being a descendent with 5000 years in between, I'm even more advanced than he is." Alexa's eyes again shot up to Daniel's. "So what I told the Asgard was correct…I may hold the answer."

Daniel nodded. "I'd hazard a guess that that's why they agreed to help."

Alexa nodded as she sat staring at the floor in thought. Suddenly, a look that Daniel recognized passed across her face.

"You have an idea." He stated matter-of-factly.

Alexa's eyes were big as they once again met his. "You said that the Ancients used a higher percentage of their brains than the average human." Daniel nodded. "And this caused their tendency toward telekinesis." Daniel nodded again. "Within this context…do you think that other mental abilities are a possibility?"

"Like what?" Daniel asked in a mix of curiosity and trepidation.

"Telepathy?"

"How would that…" Understanding dawned. "…Oh…" Alexa smiled. "I guess it would be the next logical step, after all you're using your thoughts to fly the jumper. But how do you plan on connecting?"



"Jack as the gene…and apparently the most advanced next to mine…" Alexa trailed off purposefully.

"You think that you'll be able to connect using the combined brain power." Daniel stated in awe.

"It's worth a shot." Alexa smiled.

**Λ**

Alexa settled into a meditative state of mind, repeating Jack's name as a type of mantra. The further her mind slipped into the deeper levels of meditation, the more she could feel Jack's presence. After an inordinate amount of time, Alexa opened her eyes and saw, instead of the jumper and the ice of Antarctica, golden walls, cell bars, Sam, Mitchell, and Ba'al, who was speaking.

"_You really think a little girl with one ship can defeat me?"_

"Jack." Alexa said quietly. There was no reaction, except for Jack looking between Carter and Mitchell. "Jack, can you hear me?"

_This is just a delusion._ _It's just wishful thinking that we really do have an ace up our sleeve._

Alexa couldn't help but smile at the mantra Jack had going through his head. "You're not going crazy Jack. And that ace up your sleeve just got better."

"_You're right Ba'al."_ Alexa 'heard' Jack interrupt Ba'al. _"A little girl with one ship can't beat you. But it wouldn't be an ace if you knew about it."_

"Little girl?" Alexa mumbled in annoyance.

"_Would you give me a minute? I'm trying to get rid of this creep."_

Alexa sighed and "watched" as everything unfolded.

**Λ**

Ba'al's smirk was instantly wiped from his face at Jack's words. "How dare you speak to me like that!"

"Oh give me a break." Jack rolled his eyes. "All you're doing is filling up this cell with your hot air. You think you've won, we think we're going to win, we're never going to agree. So why don't we simply agree to disagree and move on with our lives?"

Sam and Mitchell stared in dumbfounded silence at Jack. If Sam hadn't known better she would have sworn that Jack actually remembered his life in the other timeline. Because of their surprise they both missed Ba'al raising his hand, fortunately Alexa caught it.

"_Jack, watch out!"_

The hand that Ba'al raised was adorned with a hand device that he quickly activated, preparing to send Jack across the room into the wall. However, due to Alexa's warning, Jack managed to move out of the way before the blast could hit him.

Before Ba'al could get another shot off, a Jaffa stepped into the room and spoke to him in Goa'uld. Ba'al's face hardened as the Jaffa spoke. Turning he hurried from the room in anger.

**Λ**

Alexa had been sitting in silence ever since Jack's admonition to stop distracting him. Mere seconds after doing so, something on the console beeped, catching her attention. Fearing that she would lose the connection, Alexa checked the console quickly, finding that the lasers had finally done their job and the jumper hatch was uncovered. Clinging desperately to the connection with Jack, Alexa carefully maneuvered the jumper into the jumper bay.

Alexa found it a very strange sensation to be seeing the outpost through her eyes as she ran toward the ring platform, but to also be seeing the events unfolding on Ba'al's ship through her mind's eye. It was one of those conundrums that would probably give her a headache if she thought about it too much, so she simply accepted it as fact.

"Jack, look out!" Alexa exclaimed as she caught sight of Ba'al raising his hand and the hand device attached. She wasn't exactly sure what it did, but she had a gut feeling it wasn't good.

Once she reached the ring platform, Alexa turned to see Daniel and McKay both armed to the teeth. "I'll be back as soon as possible Daniel, you know what to do in the meantime."

Daniel nodded. "Good luck." He said as he activated the rings.

Alexa shot off a salute before disappearing.

**Λ**

"What the hell was that about?!" Jack exclaimed as he came to his feet.

Sam shrugged. "Something must have happened that he didn't like."

"_That was probably me."_ Alexa said. _"I just came aboard using the rings."_

"You did what?!" Jack demanded to the air.

Sam and Mitchell gave him a funny expression.



"Oh fer cryin' out loud!" Jack exclaimed as he caught sight of the other's looks. He pointed to his head. "Not quite sure how, but Alexa's in here." More looks, this time of concern. "Not actually in here, in here." Jack amended. "But somehow she's connected to my brain and is talking to me."

Cam raised an eyebrow while Sam looked thoughtful.

"Theoretically it's possible." Sam confessed. "With our knowledge of the…" Sam paused, not really wanting to mention the Ancients if someone was listening in. "Because of the gene that you share, it is possible."

Both men looked thoughtful.

"_We don't have time for this, I'm coming to get you as we speak, but we need to get your packs. Without that ZPM we're screwed."_

"We'll take care of that." Jack said, again garnering funny looks from Sam and Mitchell. "Just don't get caught."

"What do you mean don't get caught?" Cam demanded.

"Let's just say a one man SAR team has been deployed." Jack sighed.


	13. SAR Part 2

_Disclaimer: See Prologue..._

_A/N: Sheesh. I cannot believe how long it is taking to write this part of the story. This chapters a long one…so I hope you enjoy…more coming soon!_

_Last time:_

"_Let's just say a one man SAR team has been deployed." Jack sighed._

**Chapter 12: Search & Rescue Part 2–**

Alexa found herself once again traveling through alien halls with a duality of sight. On the one hand she was sneaking down the golden halls of the ha'tak, avoiding the Jaffa patrols. On the other hand she was seeing/hearing Jack explain to his two teammates what had happened.

Hearing an approaching Jaffa contingent, Alexa slipped into a storage room to her right. As the footfalls continued to pass, Alexa began to realize her fears had come true…Ba'al now knew about the ring platform in Antarctica. On the heels of this realization came the realization that she didn't have time to go rescue SG1.

**Λ**

Daniel made use of the brief moments before the ensuing attack to bunker down and give Rodney a crash course in firing and reloading a P-90 and 9mm.

"This is ridiculous!" Rodney exclaimed. "I'm a scientist, not a soldier!"

"The Rodney McKay I knew was both." Daniel retorted.

"I'm NOT him!" Rodney demanded.

"If you can't find _**him**_ we're both going to die." Daniel said quietly, yet forcefully.

Rodney sighed. "Just point and shoot right? How hard can it be?"

Daniel sighed. If they made it through this he was going to kill Alexa.

**Λ**

"_Jack…"_

Jack's hand flew up to stop Sam in midsentence.

_Yes?_ Jack responded.

"_Ba'al is sending Jaffa down to the planet using the rings. We don't have time for me to come find you."_

_So what was the point of you coming up here and letting Ba'al know about the rings?_ Jack demanded.

Alexa sighed in frustration. _"I didn't say I wasn't going to rescue you. I just don't have time to come find you."_

_So how…?_

"_Face the cell door."_ Alex ordered.

**Λ**

Once Alexa could "see" the cell door through Jack's mind, she concentrated her mind solely on the door.

**Λ**

Sam and Mitchell watched in fascination as Jack carried on the conversation in his head. They were a little surprised when he turned and stared at the door.

The longer Jack stared at the cell door, the more unnerved the other two became. Until, that is, the cell door started to waver. The wavering was so minute at first that the two barely noticed. It wasn't long, however, before the shaking was unmistakable.

Once the shaking picked up strength it was a matter of seconds before the door flew off its hinges and hit the opposite wall.

Without hesitating, and saving their questions for a later time, Sam and Mitchell followed Jack out of the cell.

**Λ**

"_Where to now?"_ Jack questioned.

Alexa glanced at the hand held scanner she'd grabbed from the jumper. She was able to locate the energy signature of the ZPM before locating the three Air Force officers.

_Turn right._ Alexa watched as the dots moved down the hall. _Stop! There are two Jaffa in an alcove 10 feet ahead, on your left._

**Λ**

Jack, Sam, and Cameron had been moving silently down the hall for several minutes when Alexa's voices stopped Jack in his tracks.

"_Stop!"_

Jack relayed Alexa's words through hand motions. Using the element of surprise they quickly disposed of the two Jaffa and took their weapons.

Several minutes and turns later, based solely on Alexa's directions, the three USAF officers arrived at the room with their gear. Jack was slightly concerned that there were no guards, but went ahead regardless.

Upon entering the room, Jack stopped in his tracks, staring down the business end of a staff weapon.

_A little warning would have been nice._ Jack though wryly.

**Λ**

Almost the instant Daniel and Rodney were in place, the rings activated and four Jaffa materialized before them. The sound of bullets immediately filled the outpost as all four Jaffa were mowed down. No sooner were they down then the rings were again activated and four more Jaffa fell to the deluge of bullets.

The two men were given a brief reprieve before the third group came down. Daniel chalked it up to the fact that the dead Jaffa had been ringed back up when the second contingent came down.

"How're you holding up, McKay?" Daniel called. "McKay?"

"I'm fine Jackson!" Rodney snapped.

Daniel shook his head as he settled in for the next group to ring down.

**Λ**

No sooner had Alexa told Jack where their packs were, then voices were heard outside of the storage room where she was hiding. Slipping behind some boxes, she sat still and waited.

Several minutes passed before the Jaffa were satisfied and left the room.

"_A little warning would have been nice."_

Alexa's eyes shot to the device in her hand to see four life signs in the room with the ZPM.

_Damn._ Alexa cursed herself. _Sorry Jack, had a close call of my own._

**Λ**

"How did you escape?" Teal'c demanded.



"It's amazing what one can do when on puts one's mind to it." Jack quipped. He smirked when he felt Alexa's grimace.

"You should not have returned for your equipment." Teal'c admonished.

"Perhaps." Jack shrugged.

_Oh for cryin' out loud!"_ Alexa grumbled.

To everyone's amazement one of the packs went flying across the room and into Sam's arms.

Teal'c raised his staff weapon higher in surprise. "Explain yourself O'Neill." He demanded.

"According to our memories, Teal'c, you helped us escape while serving Apophis as his First Prime." Sam interjected. "Over the course of the next eight years you fought with us to bring down the Goa'uld. We defeated the system lords and freed the Jaffa. Only a couple system lords remained, but they were greatly weakened by the loss of their Jaffa."

"Ba'al was one of these." Teal'c clarified.

"Yes." Cam spoke up. "Our last memory from the other timeline was traveling to another planet to see Ba'al executed."

"How did he escape?" Teal'c demanded.

"He cloned himself. We think one of his clones went back in time to change the course of history so he could succeed where he'd always failed before." Sam continued.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow.

"Beating us." Cam supplied.

Teal'c lowered his weapon slightly. "You know my son?"

Sam nodded. "Colonel O'Neill and I attended his wedding." She paused. "You have a beautiful grandson."

Teal'c was silent for a moment. "Ry'ac died in combat three years ago." He lowered his weapon. "You can return the timeline?"

Sam looked uncertain for a moment.

"We have a device." Jack interjected. Everyone looked at him in shock. He scratched his head as a signal to Sam and Cameron – Alexa had given him the information.



"Then I will aid you in your mission." Teal'c said as he moved aside so the others could grab their gear.

Within moments, the four were on their way to rendezvous with Alexa.

**Λ**

"O'Neill." Teal'c spoke after several minutes. "Would it not be best to move opposite the rest of the Jaffa?"

"Under normal circumstances, yes." Jack replied.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "How do you intend to break through the ranks?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

"There are no bridges on a ha'tak O'Neill."

**Λ**

"I'm running out of clips!" McKay yelled during a brief lull. "I know." Daniel called back. Suddenly he darted out from behind his cover. A couple minutes later he dropped back behind his cover with four zats from the bodies laying around the room.

"What are those?" McKay questioned.

"Zats." Opening one Daniel demonstrated as he spoke. "One shot stuns, two kills, and three disintegrates."

"Seriously?"

Daniel raised his zat in response and shot one of the already dead Jaffa thrice. The shock was evident on McKay's face as the Jaffa disappeared.

"Just point and shoot?"

"Point, shoot, and don't miss." Daniel replied as he threw two zats to McKay, the rings once again activating.

**Λ**

Turning one final corner, Jack stopped suddenly at the sight of dozens of Jaffa converging on what he assumed was the ring room.

_What now?_ Jack demanded silently.

"_Get Teal'c to lead you through the Jaffa."_ Alexa replied.

_Are you kidding?_

"_No."_

"Teal'c…think you could lead us through the Jaffa?" Jack asked, turning to the large Jaffa.

"I am unsure O'Neill." Teal'c replied. "What would be the purpose of such action?"

"_Tell him."_

Jack sighed. "There is one more member of my team that we need to get to."

"Surely one might be sacrificed for the good of the many." Teal'c responded.

"Not this one." Cam interjected.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow in question.

"She made sure I had my gear." Sam explained.

"Then can she not help us?" Teal'c asked.

"_Yes I can, but you have to get to where I am first."_ Alexa explained to Jack. _"I'm in the storage room 50 feet from your position."_

"She can help us T, but we need to get to the storage room up ahead first."

"Very well." Teal'c nodded. Unexpectedly he pulled a knife and placed it against Sam's throat.

"What the hell?!" Jack exclaimed.

"Kree!" Teal'c demanded.

Jack stared the large Jaffa down for a moment before turning and stepping into the hallway that led to the storage room.

"Sir?" Cam hissed as he followed suit.

"It's an act." Jack whispered back.

"How can you be sure?"

"The look in his eyes."



"Sir?"

"You're not a father are you Mitchell?"

"No Sir."

"Trust a parent to do anything to get a missing child back." Jack muttered, his voice betraying the emotion he felt.

"Sir?"

Jack didn't respond, he couldn't.

**Λ**

Alexa watched as the four dots drew nearer to her position. Once they were within ten feet, she stepped out of the storage room. She simultaneously cut the link with Jack.

"Hey guys!" Alexa called cheerfully as she stopped in the middle of the hall. Raising a hand, she pushed all the Jaffa in the hall away from the ring room. She then threw up a force field to hold them off.


	14. SAR Part 3

_Disclaimer: See Prologue..._

_A/N: _

_Last time:_

"_Hey guys!" Alexa called cheerfully as she stopped in the middle of the hall. Raising a hand, she pushed all the Jaffa in the hall away from the ring room. She then threw up a force field to hold them off__._

**Chapter 13: Search and Rescue Part 3 –**

To say Teal'c was shocked at Alexa's actions would have been an understatement. He had known for a long time that the Goa'uld were not gods. So to now see someone who could do as much and more without the aid of technology was surprising. The moment his mind processed what was happening, he released Sam, who immediately moved forward to help clear the ring room.

Teal'c didn't move until a couple minutes later when a voice drew him back to himself.

"Shol'va Kree!"

With weapon at the ready, Teal'c spun around. Unfortunately he was too late. His weapon was pulled from his fingers and he was forced to his knees as the hand device was activated.

Immediately, Sam was back in the hall, gun aimed at the woman who was torturing Teal'c.

"Sam shoot!" Alexa demanded when she saw Sam hesitate.

"Vala." Sam muttered.

Qetesh's eyes turned toward Sam. "I have not heard that name in nearly a decade. How is it that you know it?" She spoke in her dual tone.

Sam's face hardened in determination. "We met a few years back. _**After**_ she had you removed and killed."

"You dare speak such blasphemy? I am your god!"

Sam's only response was a raised gun and a deafening round of shots.

Alexa was disappointed when they all ricocheted off a personal force field. Knowing her mind couldn't take on many more tasks, she reached into her boot, pulled her knife and flung it at Qetesh.

The three women watched its trajectory, each with a different reaction. Sam's face fell and Qetesh preened with victory as the knife went wide. Alexa's face was unreadable as her eyes 

never left the knife. Just as it was about to pass Qetesh, the knife took a sudden turn to the right and pierced the hand device and Qetesh's palm.

"God's don't bleed." Alexa smirked.

Qetesh's eyes glowed with anger as she clutched her injured hand. "How do you do this?" she stammered through the pain.

Before Alexa could respond, Teal'c was on his feet, a hand around Qetesh's throat. "You have injured enough."

Once again, Qetesh's eyes glowed, but this time when she did, she stopped struggling against Teal'c.

"Thank you Teal'c."

"Vala!" Sam exclaimed.

Vala's eyes moved toward Sam. "Good luck…Major…Carter." She blinked slowly, opening her eyes to meet Teal'c's. "Finish…it."

**Λ**

The moment the majority of the Jaffa were out of the way, Jack and Cam moved in to clear the ring room. A moment later Sam came in and started working on the control panel by the door. Because of her close proximity, she was able to hear the word "Shol'va" over the zat fire behind her.

Jack had been aware of Sam's presence when she first entered the room and had made sure that her work was not interrupted by any Jaffa or staff weapon fire. He had gotten so caught up fighting that he missed when she slipped back into the hall.

Both Jack and Cam were surprised when they heard a succession of gun shots. They shared a brief look before turning back to the Jaffa they'd been fighting. They moment that Jack dropped his, he moved toward the hall to find out what was going on.

"Finish…it."

Jack saw Teal'c hesitate. Remembering having seen her face on the screen of the jumper with Ba'al, he raised his gun without hesitation and sent off one well placed shot – to the middle of her forehead. Teal'c lowered Vala's body to the floor before turning and sharing a look with Jack.

Hearing a gasp from Sam, both men turned to look at her, only to follow her gaze. What they saw caused both to jump into action immediately. Alexa stood, arm outstretched toward the Jaffa 

to keep them at bay. Her face was contorted in a grimace of concentration. But what caught all of their attention was the line of blood coming from her nose.

"Go…" Alexa stammered out. "I can't hold…" she gasped at every breath "much longer."

The three immediately hurried into the ring room, clearing it in seconds.

"Carter, get that door ready to close and lock!"

"_There's no time Jack…just go…"_ Alexa said, once again in Jack's head.

_We don't leave our people behind Lieutenant!_ Jack barked back, in his head.

"_I know Sir, but Ba'al's coming. Get to the outpost, Daniel knows what to do."_

_Lieutenant…_

"_Finish it Jack and this will have never happened."_

"Like hell…" Jack muttered.

**Λ**

Alexa had felt his anger before she saw him, something she was immensely thankful for. The moment Ba'al stepped around the corner she had him trapped behind a force field.

It didn't take long for Ba'al to survey the scene and put everything together.

"So this is what you've been hiding Lieutenant." Ba'al smirked. "It seems I underestimated you." He took in the blood running from her nose. "And perhaps you overestimated yourself?"

Alexa had been carrying on her conversation with Jack since Ba'al arrived, but had still heard every word he said.

"You ever seen an iceberg Ba'al?" Alexa gritted out.

"I have." Ba'al smirked. "Are you suggesting that you are like one Lieutenant?"

"You cannot always trust your eyes Ba'al." Alexa bluffed as she felt her strength waning. "Looks are often deceiving."

"So you aren't actually losing strength and about to drop this force field?" Ba'al mused.

"Oh no, that is happening." Alexa returned, surprising Ba'al with her honesty. "But just because that's true doesn't mean that the fight is over."



"You seem to be doing the most work, and I know for a fact that none of SG1 is capable of filling your shoes." Ba'al's smirk grew as he saw Alexa fading.

"Perhaps they cannot do this." Alexa struggled. "But they are more than capable of completing the rest of the plan."

"Oh really?" Ba'al said, somewhere between shock and sarcasm. "To bad they'll never get the chance."

_Jack go!_ Alexa thought as her strength failed her and both force fields failed. Vaguely she was aware of the rush of Jaffa toward her, but couldn't find the strength to care. As she prepared herself mentally for death, the sound of gunfire reached her ears. Opening her eyes, Alexa saw Jaffa falling riddled with bullets, staff weapon blasts, and weird blue electricity.

**Λ**

Daniel was starting to get concerned. It had been several minutes since the last group of Jaffa had come down. He had a bad feeling that things were about to take a turn for the worse. Images of all the different technology and/or bombs they could be readying to send down flashed across his mind.

After several minutes of Daniel's imagination convincing him the worst was about to happen, the ring platform came to life. Immediately both Daniel and Rodney were at the ready. However, Daniel's imagination hadn't prepared him for the sight that met his eyes.

"Mitchell!" Daniel exclaimed as he came out of his hiding place. "What the hell took you so long…and where is everyone else?"

"I'll explain while you plug this in." Cam said as he held up the ZPM.

"This won't do us any good without Jack or Alexa." Daniel muttered as he grabbed it and headed toward the chair platform.

"Which is why the three of us are headed back to the ha'tak once you've plugged that sucker in." Cam replied.

"Excuse me?" McKay exclaimed.

"Cliff notes version." Cam barked in annoyance. "Alexa saved our asses, over-tasking herself in the process. The pressure on her brain is too much to keep up whatever the hell she's doing. O'Neill is insistent that we save her, even if it means risking this mission." Cam ended bitterly.

"We don't leave our people behind Mitchell." Daniel snapped as he stood from plugging in the ZPM.



"And if Ba'al wins because of this?" Cam bit back. Daniel glared at him, before stalking past him to the rings. "We've already lost Vala, Jackson."

Daniel stopped dead in his tracks. His face cleared before he turned back to Cam, but Rodney caught the fleeting emotion. "It will never have happened."

"Neither will Alexa." Cam answered softly.

**Λ**

"Took you long enough." Jack barked once the rings settled into the floor.

"We had a brief difference of opinion." Daniel replied. "What's happening?"

"Ba'al is simply waiting for the inevitable." Teal'c replied from his station near the door.

"Hey Teal'c." Daniel responded.

"Daniel Jackson." Teal'c said with a slight bow of the head.

"How…?" Daniel stammered in amazement.

"The video, Jackson." Jack muttered.

"It is not looking good O'Neill." Teal'c interrupted any further comments.

It took a matter of seconds for everyone to set up around the door.

"_Jack…go!"_

Immediately, Jack's weapon was up, followed by everyone else's. The second the force fields were down all six people in the ring room were firing at the oncoming Jaffa.

The moment Alexa realized what was going on around her, she began to pull herself along the floor toward the ring room. Somewhere in the back of her mind she was surprised that Ba'al wasn't doing anything.

While shooting the oncoming Jaffa, Jack was keeping an eye on Alexa and her progress. He watched with sinking heart as she slowed and finally stopped, still a good ten feet away. Without second thought or hesitation, he dropped his gun.

"Cover me!" Jack ordered just before darting across the short distance to Alexa's side.

Before Jack could pick Alexa up, Ba'al activated the hand device and sent Jack flying into the attacking Jaffa. Immediately bullets were aimed at Ba'al but were stopped by his personal shield.

"_Knife…Jack…aim…at…hand…device."_

Still slightly dazed from the blast, Jack reached down to his boot and pulled out his knife. Waiting until Ba'al raised his hand toward those in the ring room, Jack threw his knife.

Ba'al was furious as he clutched his hand in pain. He watched as Jack struggled to his feet and moved toward Alexa. Glancing around him, Ba'al grabbed a staff weapon from the clutches of a dead Jaffa at his feet. He picked it up and shot it all in the same motion, hitting Jack in the stomach.

Instantly three gunshots rang out, catching Ba'al across the chest. Everything started to move in slow motion as Ba'al hit the floor, Teal'c dashed out to grab Jack and Daniel followed behind to grab Alexa. Around them whizzed bullets, staff weapon blasts and zat fire.

Once they were all in the safety of the ring room, Sam closed and locked the doors, using Daniel's zat to short circuit the controls. As soon as that was done, she turned to see everyone in the center of the ring platform. Hitting a few keys, Sam ran to join the others just before the rings engaged.


	15. Reprisals

_Disclaimer: See Prologue..._

_A/N: Here it is…as promised. Enjoy!_

**Chapter 14: Reprisals –**

The moment the rings disappeared into the floor of the outpost, Teal'c and Daniel moved to lay the two injured members of their team in the chair room.

While Sam and Daniel attended to first aid on Jack and Alexa, the others worked toward clearing the ring room, eventually just using zats to clear the room.

**Λ**

_Jack was in pain. He hadn't hurt this bad since his first mission to Iraq. He groaned as the pain spread from his stomach throughout his entire body._

"_Would you keep it down?" An annoyed voice came through the fogginess of his brain._

"_Alexa?" Jack croaked as he recognized the voice._

"_Jack?" Alexa responded in surprise. "What's wrong?"_

"_Ba'al shot me after I threw my knife at him." Jack grumbled._

"_Let me take a look." Alexa nearly ordered._

_Instantly the area around the two was lit and they could see each other. Jack's brow furled in concern as he took in how haggard and tired Alexa looked. Meanwhile, Alexa looked concerned as she saw the nasty stomach wound._

"_Where's everyone else?" Jack asked as Alexa checked his wound._

"_We're in your mind Jack." Alexa answered off-handedly._

"_WHAT?!" Jack exclaimed as he stared at Alexa. "I thought your mind couldn't take anymore."_

"_I've spent so much time in your mind today that it's not a strain to be here. What was straining my mind was everything else I was doing." Alexa replied._

_Jack winced as Alexa touched the area around his stomach wound. He watched for several minutes as she examined it. She eventually sat back on her heels, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth._

"_I don't like that look Alexa." Jack grunted._

"_You'd be fine if they could get you to a hospital…" Alexa mused. "…but we don't have time for that."_

"_Ba'al's dead Alexa." Jack countered. "I saw him riddled with bullets."_

_Alexa shook her head. "Ba'al wouldn't have come this far without a sarcophagus."_

"_A what?"_

"_A piece of technology that will bring him back to perfect health." Alexa sighed._

"_Great…" Jack groaned._

"_We need to get you up and moving."_

"_And just how do you plan on doing that?"_

_Alexa bit her lip as she thought. She tried to think over everything Daniel had told her about the ancients and their abilities._

"_I'll be right back."_

**Λ**

Sam was tending to Jack as best she could with the limited resources she had. Meanwhile, Daniel was doing what he could for Alexa. Both were frustrated at not really being able to do much, but Daniel was more so as there were no obvious physical wounds that he could tend. Because of this, Daniel was shocked when Alexa's eyes snapped open and she sat up.

"Whoa, not so fast Alexa." Daniel cautioned as he laid a hand firmly but gently on her shoulder.

Alexa shot a look at Daniel that caused him to back off. Slowly she made her way over to where Sam was leaning over Jack. She didn't speak, just moved Sam's hands away from Jack's body.

Sam was surprised to see Alexa suddenly by Jack's side. She took in the tired, haggard look on her face and the dark circles under her eyes that made her eyes look sunken into her face. Sam had no idea what brought Alexa to Jack's side, but was sure she wasn't well enough to be there.

"Alexa," Sam spoke gently, not wanting to startle the young woman. "You need to go lie down; I'll take care of him."

"We don't have time; it won't take long for the sarcophagus to heal Ba'al." Alexa returned.

Sam shot a look over Alexa's shoulder at Daniel who shrugged. "Alexa, honey…"



"No! We have to finish this." Alexa's head shot up and locked eyes with Sam, who finally nodded. "Daniel…" She turned and locked eyes with him. "…make sure the plan goes through…and the message is sent."

Without another word, and before anyone could object, Alexa's hands were placed on Jack…one over his heart, and the other over the wound in his stomach. Sam and Daniel's eyes grew wide and their mouths opened in shock as her hands began to glow slightly.

**Λ**

_Jack felt a warmth begin to seep through his weary body. He couldn't explain it, but his body was wrapped in a soft, warm glow._

"_Jack…"_

_His eyes opened with a snap, seeing that the glow was still there, but fading. "Alexa? What's happening?"_

"_Daniel will explain everything. Listen to him Jack, he knows what he's talking about…and knows what needs to be done in order to reset the timeline."_

"_But Jackson's a civilian."_

"_Jack…" Alexa's tired voice held a warning. "He's the only one who knows my plan."_

"_Why can't you just tell me?" Jack demanded. "Alexa?"_

**Λ**

As a group of Jaffa worked at opening the door into the ring room, another group picked Ba'al up and carried him to the sarcophagus. An hour later it opened to reveal a live and very irate Ba'al.

"We attack…NOW!" Ba'al ordered furiously.

"Yes my lord." The Jaffa bowed before leaving the room.

**Λ**

Sam couldn't take her eyes off Alexa's hands. She was mesmerized by the golden light emanating from them. As the light began to fade, her eyes flew up to Alexa's face in time to see her eyes roll back into her head.

"Daniel!" Sam admonished.



Jumping quickly into action, Daniel caught Alexa and laid her gently on the ground. A stirring next to her temporarily pulled his attention away from her.

Both Sam and Daniel stared in shock as Jack's eyes flew open and took in his surroundings.

"What the hell?" Jack mumbled as he looked around.

"We're back on earth, Jack." Daniel found his voice first. "We're in the outpost in Antarctica."

At the sound coming from his right, Jack turned his head that direction, taking in the sight of Daniel cradling Alexa's head. Instantly, he was sitting up, a surprised and anxious look on his face.

"What the hell happened, Jackson?" Jack demanded as he closed his eyes against the spinning room.

"I'll explain Jack, just take it easy." Daniel admonished gently.

"She was in my head Jackson." Jack tried to explain.

"I know Jack, I'll explain that too." Daniel continued. "But first I need to explain this."

Jack shook his head in frustration. "Just now, Jackson. She was in my head just now."

Sam and Daniel shared a look.

"What did she say Sir?" Sam asked gently.

"She said to listen to Jackson, that he was the only one who knew the plan."

Sam and Daniel shared another look.

"She wasn't expecting to come out of this one." Sam sighed.

"She must have realized that she didn't have the strength to run the chair, but Jack would." Daniel said in realization. "She used the last of her energy to make sure we could finish what she started."

"Would one of you explain what the hell you're talking about?!" Jack snapped.

"Jack, this outpost was built by the same people who built the jumper." Daniel began.

Jack sighed. "Which means Alexa and I are the only ones who can operate this weapon."

"Yes." Sam picked up the explanation. "Both you and Alexa were in pretty bad shape when we arrived at the outpost. She was passed out from the strain on her mind and you had been shot."

Jack glanced at his stomach where the wound should have been. "How?" He asked in confusion.

"We've run into it a couple times previously." Daniel continued. "With the heightened mental capability comes the ability to heal."

"Wait a minute. Are you telling me that Alexa healed me using her mind?"

Daniel nodded. "It certainly appears that way."

"Daniel Jackson!" Teal'c interrupted from the other room.

Daniel's head shot up at the yell immediately followed by weapon's fire.

"I'll explain the rest later, Jack. Right now we need to get you in that chair."

Sam moved to take Daniel's place next to Alexa so that he could assist Jack. Quickly the two men moved to the chair, where Daniel motioned for Jack to sit. The moment he was settled, the chair came to life.

Shooting a one-eyed, side-long look at Daniel, Jack spoke, "Let me guess…this works like the jumper."

Daniel nodded.

"Fan-bloody-tastic."

**Λ**

Ba'al stood on the bridge of the ha'tak, staring down upon Earth. He was furious. He had not spent the last 60 years strengthening his standing among the Goa'uld to be beaten by SG1 yet again. All his work and planning would not be for naught.

"My lord, we have located the ring platform on the planet." A Jaffa said from behind Ba'al.

Ba'al smiled at the planet below him. "Destroy it!"

"Yes my lord."

**Λ**

Daniel watched Jack's face intently, willing him to succeed.

An explosion above them shook the entire outpost, nearly knocking Daniel off his feet.



Jack's eyes flew open at the explosion. He glanced over everyone before locking his eyes on Alexa's prostrate form. _For you Alexa._ He determined silently before once again shutting his eyes and focusing on the task at hand.

**Λ**

"There appears to be a shield surrounding the building housing the ring platform my lord." The Jaffa said with trepidation.

"WHAT?!" Ba'al exclaimed as he turned around. He checked the sensors, surprised to see a building of Alien design buried in the ice of the southern hemisphere of the planet. He recognized the design a second too late as streams of light came flowing from the building. "Shields to maximum!" Ba'al yelled knowing full well it would do no good. Turning quickly, Ba'al dashed from the room.

**Λ**

To say Rodney was surprised would have been a gross understatement. He watched in wide-eyed fascination as a trap door opened and flashes of light flew past him and through the ceiling of the outpost. He glanced over at Teal'c who seemed just as amazed.

After several minutes the lights disappeared and Rodney took in the triumphant looks on Daniel, Sam, and Cameron's faces. For the first time since being taken from his apartment, Rodney relaxed. Somehow he knew that life had just gotten a lot less complicated.

Mere seconds after the lights disappeared, Teal'c grabbed Rodney's arm and pulled him down into a crouching position. Rodney was startled at first, until he heard the ring platform activating. The two shared a look before standing and firing.

"Shol'va!" Ba'al growled as the weapons fired bounced off his personal shield.

"But…" Rodney stammered. "You're dead!"

"I am a god." Ba'al sneered. "I cannot die…"

**Λ**

Jack's subconscious had been aware of the rings activating as the drones his mind controlled were destroying the ships above Earth. As the last ship exploded, he became aware of the commotion in the ring room.

Mentally searching his options, Jack found a sole drone that had not left as the others had. With a slightly evil smirk, Jack activated the last remaining drone.

"_I am a god. I cannot die…"_



Ba'al's words were cut off as the drone came tearing up and toward the Goa'uld, whose eyes opened in shock. He tried to activate the hand device, but couldn't as the drone began to circle him furiously.

Once again, Teal'c's arm shot out and pulled Rodney to safety as the drone shot up and then down on top of Ba'al. The resulting explosion rocked the outpost.

When Rodney's head came up, he gawked at the remains splattered across the ring room. "Hmm. He won't be coming back from that."

"Indeed."


	16. Back to Plan A

_Disclaimer: See Prologue..._

_A/N: Sorry about the delay guys. I started this chapter and then decided to go in a slightly different direction, so I had to rewrite parts of it. I should have the next chapter up in a few days time._

_Last Time:_

_When Rodney's head came up, he gawked at the remains splattered across the ring room. "Hmm. He won't be coming back from that."_

"_Indeed."_

**Chapter 15: Back to Plan A –**

Allowing the chair to move back to its original position, Jack sat up and stared directly into Daniel's questioning eyes.

"Was that really necessary?" Daniel asked, with eyebrows raised.

"Hey," Jack responded defensively. "At least this way we know he's not coming back."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Do you ever do anything simply?"

"Not when I can help it." Jack smirked. Turning toward Sam, the smirk slipped of his face. "Any change?"

Sam shook her head sadly.

Jack turned back to Daniel. "What's the rest of the plan?"

Daniel sighed as the rest of the team joined them in the main room. "When Alexa and I travelled to Cimmeria, I wasn't getting anywhere in convincing Thor to help us. He was about to leave, when Alexa pulled out an ace that even she didn't understand.

"The walk from the gate to Thor's cave was long. Alexa spent most of it asking me questions about the first time we went to Cimmeria and about the Asgard. So when Thor was about to leave, she announced that she might have the key to saving them."

"Damn." Cameron muttered.

"I don't understand." Jack interjected, looking between the three who actually had memories from the other timeline.

"The Asgard have been our greatest allies over the years." Daniel continued. "They look like your typical Roswell grays." Daniel smiled at the look on Jack's face. "Due to scientific advancements they haven't reproduced in thousands of years, instead they clone themselves and 

download their consciousness from one body into another. Because of this, their race is dying out.

"For years they thought that Jack contained the solution, but eventually found that it wasn't enough. So instead of allowing themselves to die slowly, they blew themselves up." Daniel paused at the end of his narrative.

"So what does that have to do with Alexa?" Jack snapped.

"Alexa is a descendant of yours Jack…with 5000 years in between." Daniel muttered.

"Wait…she's from the future?" Jack stammered.

"More like you got stuck in the past, Sir." Sam explained.

Jack frowned. "I don't want to know do I?"

"Not if you don't want a massive headache." Cam responded.

"So…does she have the answer?" Jack asked as he watched Alexa.

"We're not sure, but apparently the Asgard thought it was worth the chance." Daniel replied. "Thor took Alexa's proposal to the counsel. The crystal he gave Alexa should have the information necessary to finish out the plan."

"Which is?" Jack prompted.

Daniel sighed. Taking a deep breath he dove into the narrative about their trip into ancient Egypt, the timeline change, and Alexa finding the puddle jumper.

"For cryin' out loud!" Sam exclaimed at the end of Daniel's story. "I can't believe I didn't see it before!"

"See what before Carter?" Jack demanded impatiently.

"She has the time travel device." Sam answered.

"Wait a minute," Rodney exclaimed. "Daniel and I were hooking up a time travel device?"

Daniel nodded.

"Hooking up?" Cam muttered. "Of course! That crate from her parents' farm."

Daniel nodded again. "After Thor beamed the three of you to the ha'tak, McKay and I went to work connecting the device back to the jumper."



"So that's the plan?" Jack scoffed. "Just go back in time and fix the mistake? How do we even know when the timeline was altered?"

"Two ways actually," Daniel responded. "Alexa found the other stargate lost in the ice of the Arctic, on a boat from the 40's."

"So?" Jack replied testily.

"The stargate was transported from Egypt in the 40's." Sam interjected.

"Ba'al simply caused it to be lost." Jack filled in the blacks. "So all we have to do is find out when he lost it, and keep it on course."

"That's the basic idea." Daniel nodded. "Well, that and Alexa needs to meet up with the Asgard of the past."

"Wait! We're all going back?" Rodney exclaimed.

"No." Sam answered. "Daniel, Cam and I will be returning through the stargate to the planet we were on when all this happened."

Jack looked between the three in surprised silence. "Why?"

"Traveling through the wormhole allowed us to retain our memories from the other timeline." Sam answered.

"And traveling through when it changes back will allow for you to remember these past few days." Rodney surmised.

"In other words," Jack interjected. "Alexa and I have to be on the jumper; Carter, Mitchell, and Jackson have to stay here; which leaves the two of you…" He paused. "The choice is yours to make."

"Will you be fighting Ba'al O'Neill?" Teal'c spoke for the first time.

"I don't know, T, but it's possible." Jack responded.

"Then I will accompany you."

**Λ**

"So let me guess," Jack said as he sat in the pilot's seat in the jumper. "I just think a date and it will send us back."

Daniel smiled. "Pretty much…there's just one stipulation."



"Which is?"

"The jump has to be a minimum of a couple hundred years." Daniel sighed.

"The 1940's were less than 70 years ago Daniel." Jack bit out.

"Which is why Sam is trying to find out when the ship left Egypt."

"It's still going to be less than 70 years ago Daniel."

Daniel sighed. "You'll have to do a double jump Jack." Jack raised an eyebrow in question. "You'll have to jump 200-300 years into the past or future and then jump to whatever year Sam finds."

"I did this for a living?" Jack asked in amazement after a brief pause.

Daniel smiled. "Not necessarily time travel, but everything else of the last few days is fairly typical."

Jack shook his head slowly. "And I gave this up to become a General?"

Daniel's smile grew. "It wasn't an easy decision and you've questioned it every day since."

**Λ**

Teal'c was standing in the bulkhead listening to Jack and Daniel's conversation while watching as Sam and Rodney sat in the back trying to figure out when they were going back to. Rodney was searching shipping databases while Sam worked at reading the Asgard crystal.

Meanwhile, Cam was keeping an eye on Alexa. "It's too bad we don't have a healing device." He muttered.

"What good would such a device be Cameron Mitchell?" Teal'c asked. "Only the Goa'uld can use it."

Sam sighed. "In the other timeline I was host to a Tok'ra symbiote for a short time."

"The Tok'ra exist?" Teal'c asked in surprise.

Sam nodded. "They were great allies for a time."

"Then it is good that I took this from Ba'al's remains." Teal'c responded as he pulled a familiar device from inside his armor. He handed it over to Sam with a raised eyebrow.

"You never cease to amaze me Teal'c." Sam said with a huge smile as she took the healing device from him.

"I would not have it so Samantha Carter." Teal'c said, a smile playing around his eyes.

Sam smiled in return before turning toward Alexa as she fixed the healing device to her hand. Standing over the younger woman, she activated the healing device. Several minutes passed before she stepped away with a sad shake of her head.

"She's not physically injured." Sam said quietly, her hands dangling at her side and the healing device dropping to the ground.

**Λ**

"I've got it!" Rodney exclaimed. "I know when our ship left Egypt: August 12, 1942."

"Sam?" Daniel asked.

"I know how to get the message to the Asgard." Sam said quietly.

"Then it looks like we're set to go." Jack called from the front.

**Λ**

Jack set the jumper down in the park near Rodney's apartment.

Rodney nodded to everyone. "I'd say 'see you around,' but I won't remember this in the other timeline."

With that, Rodney disembarked and Jack turned the jumper toward the Arctic where the other gate sat on a long lost boat.

"Tell me again why we're using this gate instead of the one in Antarctica." Jack mumbled.

"We're not, Jack," Daniel called from the back where he, Sam and Cameron were changing back into their offworld BDUs. "You and Teal'c will need the '40s clothes from the boat; we'll be leaving through the gate in Antarctica."

Two hours later, clothes had been found for Jack, Teal'c, and even Alexa, and they had returned to Antarctica. The remaining members of SG1 had done their best to explain the necessities to Jack and Teal'c who was unused to human customs.

"You sure you can find the Asgard and get the message to them, Jack?" Daniel asked one final time.

"I got it Jackson!" Jack ground out.

"Then I guess that's it." Sam hesitated.

"Don't worry Carter, when you get back to the planet everything will be right." Jack smirked.

With a last wave, Jack closed the rear hatch, locking SG1 out and himself in with Teal'c and Alexa.

"Shall we Teal'c?" Jack asked as he moved to the front.

"Indeed O'Neill." Teal'c replied as he took the co-pilot's seat.

Once the jumper was in orbit above Earth, Jack took a moment to close his eyes and decide on a date. Glancing over his shoulder at where Alexa lay in the back, he looked again at Teal'c. "Well, here goes nothin'."

**Λ**

As the time travel device powered down, Jack cloaked the jumper and scanned the planet below. Finding what he was looking for, he turned the jumper toward the planet's surface.

"Should we not be returning to 1942, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked.

"We will T, just have one quick stop to make." Jack answered distractedly.

Teal'c watched as Jack headed back to the part of the planet known as Antarctica. He couldn't help but wonder what it was that Jack hoped to find in this desolate, frozen section of the Tau'ri homeworld. But before he could ask, the jumper descended through a bank of clouds and he saw the lights of a large city shining through the night.

"How far into the future did you take us O'Neill?"

"I didn't T. I took us 10,000 years into the past."


	17. The Alterans Part 1

_Disclaimer: See Prologue..._

_A/N: Many apologies for the delay…amazing how midterms take over one's life. Without further ado…on with the story._

_Last Time:_

"_How far into the future did you take us O'Neill?"_

"_I didn't T. I took us 10,000 years into the past."_

**Chapter 16: The Alterans Part 1–**

Silence filled the jumper as Teal'c stared at Jack, unsure as to why O'Neill would take them so far back. A sudden voice and face appearing on the front screen drew both conscious inhabitants of the jumper away from their conversation.

"Identify yourself!" An elderly gentleman demanded.

"I am Jonathan, I've traveled a great distance to ask for your help." Jack responded, almost diplomatically.

"The ship you are in does not allow for long distance travel, save through the stargate. Our sensors picked you up in space, not near the stargate."

Jack sighed. "I'll explain everything to you, but we have a young woman aboard who needs your help."

"Lower your shield."

Jack sighed again and did as told.

"You are not Alteran." The man seemed surprised. "How is it that you fly that ship?"

"Again, I will explain everything, just allow us to land and help our companion." Jack said, losing patience.

"There is nothing wrong with your companion."

"Maybe not physically." Jack growled.

The man frowned as he ran more scans. "Her mind has been strained." He looked back up at Jack. "Her level of evolution…it has not been recorded in 5000 years." The man sighed. "There is a bay for your ship at the top of the tower in the center of the city, I will meet you there."

The man's face disappeared before Jack could respond. Biting back a retort, he followed directions, heading toward the tall tower in the center of the city. Once arriving at the top, a 

hatch opened, allowing them access. Not knowing what else to do, Jack simply lowered the ship onto the open space of floor just below the hatch. Powering down the jumper, Jack moved toward the back of the jumper to open the back hatch. Stopping at the bulkhead, he turned to Teal'c.

"Wait here." Jack admonished. "It's going to be difficult enough explaining what we're doing here without also having to explain you."

Teal'c lowered his head once in acknowledgement, wondering what his companion was doing.

Jack lowered the back hatch to see the man from the transmission standing there alone. "Considering you don't know me, do you really think it was wise to come here alone and unarmed?" He asked, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Due to your level of evolution, you would not understand that your weapons are useless against us." The elderly gentleman returned evenly.

Flashes of memory from the couple days he had known Alexa passed across Jack's mind.

"You'd be surprised how much or little I understand." Jack quipped. "After all, I knew to come to you for help."

"Yes. How exactly did you know that? And how did you get here?"

"First, please help my companion." Jack asked, a hint of affection in his voice as he spoke of Alexa.

"Your companion is simply resting her mind. She is not in critical danger. However you may be very shortly. You must tell me everything."

Jack nodded and gestured for the man to step into the jumper. "Do you recognize this device?"

"No." The older gentleman said, as he studied the device with a furrowed brow. "What is it?"

"It is a device that one of _**your**_ scientists is either already working on or very soon will be." Jack responded. "It allows this ship to travel through time."

The elderly gentlemen looked up in surprise. "When are you from?"

"10,000 years in the future." Jack responded glibly. "There are over 6 billion humans living on this planet, a very small minority are at the same evolutionary level that I am at. Alexa is the only one at hers."

"How is that possible?"



"That's another story. One that I'm not too familiar with. But needless to say, she shouldn't be around for 5000 years past my time." Jack answered.

"Then you have used this device before." It was a statement rather than a question.

"So I was told." Jack sighed.

"Told? You used this device before and don't know it?"

"Apparently I spent 10 years going through the stargate, exploring and fighting a group of villains that were running the galaxy. After 10 years, the villains were destroyed…all but one that is. He managed to clone himself, so while my team was watching what they believed to be his execution, he was actually traveling back in time.

"He made it so that we never found the stargate, therefore I never traveled through the gate, and my team and I never defeated him and his cohorts."

"How do you know all this?"

"The three members of my team who were offworld watching the execution somehow maintained their memories from the previous timeline when they came back through the stargate." Jack shrugged, not fully understanding the logistics.

"That is an intriguing concept; one that I'm afraid cannot be tested." The Alteran gentleman eyed Jack carefully. "What brings you back this far? Surely the gate was not lost this far in the past."

"No." Jack answered. "I needed to go back 65 years."

"10,000 years is a grievous mistake Jonathan."

"The device will only jump more than 200 years." Jack explained.

"So a double jump was required." The man nodded knowingly. "But 10,000 is still a far way from 200."

"I was concerned for Alexa." Jack admitted.

"What happened to your young companion?"

Jack filled his companion in on the events that led to Alexa's catatonic state. For a man of few words, he spoke in great detail.

"We owe her our lives." Jack finished his story.

"I am intrigued by your story Jonathan. And find myself in a unique position. Here I have people from the future who could shed some light on the events to come, yet my scientific mind is 

telling me that I need to leave well enough alone and allow things to happen as they happen." The older gentleman sighed. "I will help you Jonathan, for I believe that you are a man of honor and justice. However, I am afraid that your presence here will not remain a secret for long. You are lucky that I was the one who noticed your presence and not someone else. There are those who would not allow you to fulfill your mission…"

The Alteran scientist was cut off by a shout outside the jumper and the back hatch opening.

"Take them!" An angry man barked as others followed him into the jumper.

"The girl needs help!" The Alteran scientist interjected.

The guard spun toward him. "You should have informed us of their presence immediately!"

"I was intrigued by the physiology Garrin."

"Scientists!" Garrin growled. "Take the girl to the infirmary and the two men to a holding cell."

"Two?" The Alteran scientist exclaimed in surprise.

"Yes." Garrin smiled wickedly. "There is a third life sign in the front compartment."

**Λ**

"I'm sorry Teal'c." Jack said as he paced around the cell for the umpteenth time.

"It is not your fault O'Neill. You were attempting to aid Alexa Stephens."

"And I certainly made a mess of that!" Jack bit out, angry at himself.

Just then, the outer door opened and Garrin stepped up to the electronic bars of the cell. "Who are you and where are you from?" He demanded.

"My name is Jack O'Neill, this is Teal'c." Jack responded. "I am from earth, while Teal'c is from…"

"Chulak." Teal'c filled in for Jack.

"Earth? I do not know it." Garrin responded.

"Well, that's a surprise." Jack said flippantly. "Considering that you're standing on it."

"You cannot be from this planet." Garrin demanded.

"And why not?" Jack asked.



"Because there are no beings of your physiological makeup that live on this planet." Garrin snapped angrily.

"Perhaps not now." Jack replied vaguely. "But before you know it this planet will be overrun by billions of people."

"I knew it!" Garrin crowed triumphantly. "You are here as spies. When is this invasion scheduled to happen?"

"Not sure exactly when it starts." Jack shrugged. "But I do know that there will be over 6 billion people on this planet in about…" He paused, watching Garrin's reaction closely. "10,000 years." Garrin's eyes grew wide in shock, a fact which Jack found highly amusing. "We're not here to cause trouble Garrin. You are simply a pit stop. I only wanted help for the girl."

"The council will decide your fate!" Garrin barked. "But mark my words; this has just become more than a 'pit stop'!"

**Λ**

_Alexa had been floating in a sea of nothingness for what felt like an eternity. Since healing Jack, she'd had no sense of time, simply floating along, reveling in the nothingness. She had felt so tired and drained from her experiences on the ha'tak and the outpost, that it felt good to wallow in the nothingness._

_But things were changing. She wasn't sure how, or even what, but she could sense others – others like her and yet different. She attempted to reach out to them, but they were closed off to her. No matter how hard she fought, she couldn't reach them._

_Slowly but surely the nothingness began to fade away, replaced by a meager awareness of her surroundings. She recognized the sound of feet moving hurriedly across a tiled floor, voices whispering urgently to one another, and equipment spitting out data that it had retrieved. She felt a drug being administered just before she slipped back into the welcoming nothingness._

"_Alexa?"_

_Suddenly the nothingness was gone, but neither was she in the room she had "felt" before. Instead, she felt a floor beneath her feet and an open space around her._

"_Who's there? Where am I?"_

"_Relax child, I will not harm you."_

_A faint light filled the room, illuminating an elderly gentleman standing before Alexa, a small smile playing across his gentle features._

"_Where am I?"_

"_We are in your mind child."_

"_You're telepathic?" Alexa stammered._

"_We are very similar, you and I, Alexa…despite the thousands of years between us."_

"_You're an Ancient." Alexa replied in awe._

"_A what, child?"_

"_An Ancient." Alexa repeated. "A humanoid being who once lived on Earth, whose evolution was more advanced than ours; the race who created the stargate."_

"_Why do you refer to me as an Ancient?"_

"_That's all we know you as." Alexa responded. "You're people aren't exactly…around in our time."_

"_You do not realize where…or should I say __**when**__ you are." It was a statement rather than a question._

"_I don't understand."_

"_Your two companions…Jonathan and Teal'c are their names…brought you here using the time travel device."_

"_The device." Alexa sighed. "When exactly are we?"_

"_10,000 years before your time."_

"_Why would he come back so far?"_

"_Jonathan claimed that he desired to obtain help for you."_

"_Of course." Alexa said. "He would come back to the source. Since I am the first in thousands of years to manifest these abilities, he would come back to the only people we know for certain had them."_

_The elderly gentleman nodded. "I believe what Jonathan said to me. I also agree that your mission must be completed. However, I am currently the only one who does. For now I must resign myself to simply aiding you in your recovery, and perhaps discovery of your abilities. Then, I will see what I can do to reunite you with your companions and help you on your way."_

"_Who are you?" Alexa asked._

"_I am Myrddin of the Alterans."_


	18. The Alterans Part 2

_Disclaimer: See Prologue..._

_A/N: Wow, this chapter ended up being quite a bit longer than I expected. Looks like we'll have one more chapter of the Alterans. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter._

_Last Time:_

"_Who are you?" Alexa asked._

"_I am Myrddin of the Alterans."_

**Chapter 17: The Alterans Part 2–**

_Alexa couldn't help but watch Myrddin as he mapped his way through her mind. He stood an arms distance away, his hands resting on either side of her head at her temple. His eyes were closed as he focused his mind on hers._

_After what seemed like an eternity to Alexa, Myrddin finally opened his eyes and locked them with hers._

"_There is much that can be learned from the mind if one knows where to look." Myrddin spoke gently._

"_What did you learn?" Alexa whispered._

"_That you tried to do too much too soon." Myrddin scolded._

"_It was necessary." Alexa defended._

"_Perhaps." Myrddin conceded. "But you would never have recovered had your companions not brought you here."_

"_You can help me?"_

"_I can child." Myrddin smiled. "However, the best way to heal your mind will be to strengthen it."_

"_Strengthen it?"_

"_You are a soldier, yes?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Does your military simply send you into battle, or do they train you?" Myrddin questioned with a raised eyebrow._

_Alexa smiled. "They train us. We wouldn't last long without training."_

**Λ**

Several days had passed since Jack and Teal'c had been incarcerated. Since Garrin's warning that the council would decide their fate, they had seen no one but the guard that brought them food. Jack was about to go crazy with all the waiting, and didn't hesitate to make it known. Teal'c found that the only way to keep his sanity and ignore Jack in the process was to spend the majority of his time in kel'no'reem.

The sound of the outer door opening no longer brought any reaction from either man. They had completely lost all sense of time and figured it must be time to eat again. They felt rather than saw the Alteran walk into the room and stop in front of the cell. They continued to ignore him, figuring that he would just leave the food like every other time. When several minutes passed and nothing happened, Jack finally raised his head and stared at the man who was watching them.

"Can I help you?" Jack asked, annoyance lacing his voice.

"Is it true?" The Alteran asked.

"Is what true?" Jack was seriously getting annoyed now.

"Is it true that you are from the future, that you came here in a ship with a time travel device?"

Jack sighed. "Yes, it's true." Suddenly he looked up at the Alteran. "Wait, you believe us?"

"Indeed I do." The Alteran smiled. "I am a scientist here on Atlantis. For quite some time now I have been studying the possibility of traveling through time. But not until I heard about you did I realize it might actually be possible."

"Not only is it possible," Teal'c said, coming out of kel'no'reem. "But it is also highly probable that we are using the device you will create."

"Who are you?" Jack finally asked.

"I am Janus of the Alterans."

**Λ**

_Alexa was feeling much stronger. In fact, she felt that she was ready to wake up, rescue Jack and Teal'c, and continue with their mission to save the future._

"_Not just yet child." Myrddin said with a smile._

"_I'm not a child, Myrddin." Alexa whined._

_Myrddin smiled. "Are you arguing with an old man Alexa?"_

_Alexa sighed. "No."_

"_Good." Myrddin continued. "Now that you are gaining back your strength we must begin your training."_

"_How in the world are we going to train while I'm still unconscious?" Alexa grumbled._

"_It is the only way child. Once you are awake you will join your companions in their cell."_

_Alexa sighed. "Fine, but I still don't understand how this is going to work."_

_Myrddin grinned. "All in good time child, all in good time."_

**Λ**

Jack knew he was way out of his league when he was shown into the council chambers. He quickly took a look around, recognizing both Janus and Myrddin, who he still only knew as the elderly scientist who had first met them in the jumper bay. Sitting in the middle of the half circle was an older gentlemen and a younger woman. From what Jack could tell, they were in charge, the rest of the council deferred to them.

"Jonathan O'Neill." The woman spoke up. "We have heard accounts of you from two members of this council as well as our head of security. Though we have never had to deal with a situation like this, we are inclined to believe your story."

"Good." Jack responded. "So you'll let us go."

"No." The older Alteran responded. "What Melia was saying, is that because we believe your story no further action will be taken against you." He paused. "However, you will remain here with us. Your fate is now with the Alterans."

"And you are?" Jack asked, barely able to suppress his anger.

"I am Moros."

"Well Moros, I don't think you understand just what is at stake here." Jack demanded.

"It is you who do not understand!" Moros said. "All of history is at stake."

"That is exactly my point!" Jack retorted. "Teal'c." He continued, motioning the Jaffa forward. "Show 'em."



Teal'c raised his t-shirt so that his pouch was visible. Once it was, the Goa'uld symbiote stuck its head out and hissed. Gasps were heard around the room as the Alterans took in the unfamiliar sight.

"What is that?"

Jack placed a hand on Teal'c's shoulder, letting him know he could lower his shirt. With an added nod he let Teal'c have the floor, since he understood the Goa'uld better than Jack.

"I am of the Jaffa, a race chosen to serve the Goa'uld as soldiers. We also carry the young Goa'uld until they are mature enough to take a host." Teal'c answered the Alterans.

"That is what you are fighting in the future?" Janus asked.

"Indeed."

"Why?"

"They are parasites who claim to be gods." Teal'c responded. "They take over the human body, suppressing the consciousness of the host. They desire power and honor from their slaves, claiming another's technology as their own, including the chappa'ai."

"Chappa'ai?"

"Stargate." Jack explained. "As far as I can understand, chappa'ai is translated ring of the gods."

"Indeed." Teal'c affirmed.

"Teal'c how are new hosts chosen?" Janus picked up his questioning again.

"They are chose by the Goa'uld according to what pleases them."

"In other words the host has no choice?" Janus clarified.

"Indeed."

"O'Neill," Janus continued. "How did you end up here?" Jack raised an eyebrow at the Alteran scientist. "What were the events that led you to being on this mission?" Janus restated.

"I don't know why, but in 10,000 years the Alterans no longer exist – Alexa and I are the most closely related. After discovering the stargate our military began exploring the galaxy, fighting the Goa'uld for 8 years, when most of them were destroyed. Three years later my former team was attending the execution of the last Goa'uld when the timeline changed." Jack explained, pulling from his memory what Sam, Daniel, and Cameron had told him.



"They'd had numerous run-ins with this Goa'uld and his clones, and incorrectly believed that they'd gotten them all. So, while they were distracted with the execution of a clone, the original went back in time and changed history. He made it so that the stargate was lost at sea." Jack finished.

"Perhaps it is a wiser course of action to leave the timeline where you never find the stargate." Melia interjected.

"How many people will die, be enslaved, or become hosts because we allowed Ba'al to change history?" Jack demanded.

"The timeline has been meddled with enough!" Moros exclaimed.

**Λ**

"_How is it going in there Myrddin?" Alexa asked._

"_Not well child." Myrddin responded morosely. "The council had their minds made up before they convened. Your companions had no chance."_

"_I need to be in there." Alexa insisted._

"_Alexa…"_

"_No Myrddin." Alexa interrupted. "I can continue to strengthen my mind, but it will be easier for all of us to escape if I don't have to go looking for Jack and Teal'c first."_

_Myrddin sighed. "Very well."_

**Λ**

"The timeline has been meddled with enough!" Moros exclaimed.

"I believe the word you are looking for is _**too much**_."

Everyone turned toward the interrupting voice.

"And you are?" Moros demanded.

"Lt. Alexa Stephens, I'm with them." She answered, pointing at Jack and Teal'c.

"What do you mean by "too much," child?" Myrddin spoke up.

"It has been meddled with too much not to be fixed." Alexa clarified.

"That is not an option!" Moros exclaimed in agitation.

"It is a necessity!" Alexa responded in matching volume and intensity.

"You dare raise your…"

"Do you recognize this?" Alexa demanded as she held up a glowing white stone.

"How did you come to possess that?" Melia asked.

"Thor gave it to us." Jack answered.

"You know Thor?" Janus asked, surprised for the first time since the council meeting had begun.

"Apparently we were close allies in the original timeline." Jack answered. "I understand he had a special interest in me."

Myrddin stood and walked toward Alexa. "May I?" He asked with outstretched hand.

Alexa nodded and handed the Asgard stone to the older man. Myrddin took the stone and moved to a console on the edge of the council room. Placing the stone on the console, a hologram appeared in the center of the room.

"_Greetings. I am Thor, supreme commander of the Asgard fleet."_

"That is not possible." Moros finally found his voice. "The Asgard are a much taller, humanoid race."

"_Indeed, at the time of the Ancients that was true."_ Holographic Thor acknowledged. _"However, in cloning ourselves we introduced a fatal disease. It has changed our physiology and is killing us."_

"Killing you?" Melia asked, fear filling her voice.

"_Yes. We began to notice the affects shortly before you were…"_ Holographic Thor paused. _"I do not wish to reveal too much of the future, needless to say, you were unable to complete your work towards a cure. The Asgard High Council has decided that Alexa Stephens is our best chance at finding a cure."_

"Then we will send her to you now." Moros explained. "We can begin working on the cure before you discover the disease."

Thor looked thoughtful. _"Time is running out for the Asgard. We are fighting our own genetics as well as an enemy that we cannot defeat. We were told by the people from Earth, those working with Alexa Stephens, that they were able to help us defeat this enemy."_

"We cannot help the Asgard if we never find and use the stargate." Jack interjected.

Jack's last comment was met with heavy silence.


	19. Smokescreens & Mirrors

_Disclaimer: See Prologue..._

_A/N: I am so, so, so, so, sorry for the delay. One thing after another seemed to be conspiring against me to not finish this. I've had headaches for 3 weeks straight now, and I lost my jump drive which had this entire story on it. But, I found my jump drive and finished this chapter and the next. Once I get the next chapter from paper/pen to computer I will post it in order to attempt to make up for the extended time. Now…on with the story!_

_BTW, because of a little confusion…I had forgotten that Moros and Myrddin were one in the same, so I twisted the plot a little to fix that problem. ENJOY!_

_Last Time:_

"_We cannot help the Asgard if we never find and use the stargate." Jack interjected._

_Jack's last comment was met with heavy silence._

**Chapter 18: Smokescreens & Mirrors –**

"Don't you think it would have been better if you had stayed out of here?" Jack asked once the three were back in a cell.

"I was hoping that I would be able to convince them to let us go." Alexa retorted.

"And that went well." Jack returned sarcastically.

Alexa turned and glared at Jack. "And you were doing such a fine job before I arrived."

Jack returned Alexa's glare. "At least we had a better chance of escaping before you were thrown in here with us."

"Perspective Jack."

"Excuse me."

"It all depends on your perspective." Alexa explained. "While out there I would have had to waste precious time searching for you. Now our greatest problem will be retrieving the Asgard stone."

"Our biggest problem isn't the fact that we are ALL IN THIS CELL?" Jack exclaimed.

"Nope." Alexa responded with her back toward the others as she studied the corner panel where she knew the controls were. "That's the easy part." She continued with a smile as she turned to face Jack, the force field disengaging around them.

"Well I'll be damned." Jack muttered as he followed Alexa out of the cell. "And just how do you expect to get the Asgard stone back?"

Alexa held up a finger, silently telling him to wait.

"_Myrddin?"_

"_Yes child." Myrddin answered._

"_We need the Asgard stone."_

_Myrddin sighed. "That will be difficult Alexa."_

"_I know, but without it I cannot complete my mission."_

"_You need the stone to help you defeat the Goa'uld?" Myrddin's voice was filled with confusion._

_Alexa smiled. "No, I need it to save the Asgard."_

_Myrddin sighed again. "The stone is in the council chamber, you won't get very far even if you manage to get the stone."_

"_Is there nothing you can do to help us?"_

"_My request to study the stone was denied. I believe the council senses my sympathy to you and your companions." Myrddin explained._

"This way." Alexa said aloud before moving down the hall.

"You know how to get the stone?" Jack asked.

"Not yet."

"Then…"

Alexa held up her hand for silence, cutting Jack off. Glancing around the corner she watched two scientists come out of the transporter room and move down the hall away from their location. Once the scientists rounded a corner and were out of sight, Alexa moved to the transporter room.

Once the three companions were inside the room, Alexa pulled up the schematics of the city. She pointed without touching the screen. "Here's our location, here's the jumper bay, and here is where the Asgard stone is being kept."

"And all these guys have more advanced capabilities than you?" Jack clarified.

"Yeah." Alexa sighed. "We'll need a distraction."

"Would not the power core make the most logical choice for a distraction?" Teal'c interjected.

"Actually…" Alexa considered Teal'c's idea.

"Cutting the power would certainly be a distraction." Jack admitted.

"Okay." Alexa agreed. "Three of us…and three simultaneous missions…we're going to need our radios."

**Λ**

It had taken a little work, but Jack, Teal'c, and Alexa managed to neutralize the guards posted at their jumper—thanks to the element of surprise. Once they had control of their jumper and their radios, Teal'c and Alexa headed out to separate areas of the city.

It didn't take Teal'c long to arrive at the center of the city where the power core was located. He tapped his radio once, letting the other two know that he was in position.

Alexa was half-way to the council chamber when she heard the single tap across the radio. It was taking her a little longer to arrive at her destination due to the more central areas she was traveling through. Already she had almost been discovered twice.

Ten minutes later, Alexa stood in an alcove just outside the council chamber. Quickly, she tapped her radio twice, signaling the others that she was in place.

Jack had been slightly worried when Alexa's signal hadn't come across the radio after Teal'c's. he continued to prepare the shuttle while he waited. When the signal finally came across, he sighed with relief and powered up the jumper to move into position.

The second Jack lifted passed the hatch and out of the jumper bay, he tapped his radio three times, signaling the start of phase two.

Once Alexa's signal came across the radio, Teal'c knew it was only a matter of seconds before Jack's came across. So when the three clicks came across, Teal'c was ready and able to jump into action.

Before the Alterans knew what had hit them, Teal'c was in the room and had zatted all the scientists in the room. Quickly he moved to the power console in the middle of the room and removed the three ZPMs. Immediately the city was cast into darkness, save the natural light from the afternoon sun.

When darkness descended around her, Alexa stepped out of the alcove and moved toward the council room.

From outside, Jack could clearly see the power going out throughout the city. Moving to the coordinates decided upon, he tapped his radio four times.



Teal'c had set up a defensive stance as he waited for Jack's next signal. Just before the Alterans made it through the locked door, the signal came. Not waiting to see what would happen, Teal'c turned toward the outer window and ran at it. In a spectacular shattering of the stained glass, Teal'c went flying out of the tower and landed in a roll in the back of the jumper.

Upon hearing the four clicks, Alexa waited with baited breath until she heard the five clicks signaling that Teal'c was on the jumper. Taking one last glance around the council chamber, Alexa reached her hand out slowly toward the console where the Asgard stone had been left in the chaos following the blackout.

With her other hand resting on her radio, ready to send the next signal, Alexa gently grasped the Asgard stone and pulled it from the console.

"I figured you would try an escape but I never dreamed you would make it this far." Myrddin said from behind Alexa.

Alexa spun around, her hand still on her radio.

"I must say I am quite impressed at your ingenuity." Myrddin continued. "However, I'm afraid I cannot allow you to escape."

"Myrddin…"

"Actually child, my name is Moros."

Suddenly a second figure appeared next to the elderly Alteran. Alexa stared at the two, suddenly realizing how similar Moros and Myrddin looked.

"You've been playing us from the beginning." Alexa accused.

"It is easy to trick the simple mind." Moros shrugged.

"I should have known." Alexa sighed. "I heard enough stories about you that I should have known better than to trust you." Alexa glared at Moros. "In 10,000 years you are still an arrogant race who refuses to aid lesser races even when you are at fault."

"I thought we weren't around in 10,000 years." Moros interjected.

"You haven't ceased to exist, but you might as well have." Alexa retorted.

Moros sighed. "The stone Alexa." He put out his hand to receive the stone.

"You've mapped my mind Moros, you know I can't do that."

"You have no choice child." Moros smirked. "There is nowhere for you to go."



"Maybe not where." Alexa grinned. "But there is a when."

With seven clicks across the radio, all hell broke loose.

**Λ**

The moment Teal'c landed in the back of the jumper he clicked his radio five times to let Alexa know that he was safe. Rising to his feet, he moved to the front compartment and took the copilot's seat.

"Nice work, T." Jack smiled as he cloaked the jumper and moved it around to their next position.

When several minutes passed and nothing was heard from Alexa they began to worry that the power outage hadn't been a big enough distraction. Jack started to become agitated and his hands were becoming twitchy and trigger happy.

"The jumper flying into the gateroom would be a big distraction." Jack commented.

"Indeed." Teal'c responded. "However, Alexa Stephens may still come out of this."

"And she may have already been cau…"

The sound of clicks came over the radio. …3…4…5…6…7…

"Seven?" Jack asked Teal'c for confirmation.

"Indeed."

"I knew something happened!" Jack exclaimed as he maneuvered the jumper to their new position.

**Λ**

Without warning, Alexa rushed Moros and winded him with a shoulder to the chest in a football move. Maintaining her balance, she rushed toward the control room. When she was a mere three feet from the railing overlooking the gateroom, she heard Moros ordering that she be stopped.

Adding more speed, Alexa launched herself up and over the railing, sending herself flying through the air where she landed a few feet below the control room. Instantly, the jumper was uncloaked and the hatch closed.

"Open fire!" Moros yelled. "They must not be allowed to escape!"

In an unexpected move, the jumper flew through the dormant stargate and through the stained glass on the other side.

"Fire drones!" Moros yelled. He watched in satisfaction as the jumper exploded.

**Λ**

Alexa watched from behind the council table as Moros doubled over, trying to catch his breath. Moments later he took off toward the control room. Smiling slightly, Alexa stepped out from behind the table and slipped out of the council room.

Moving carefully, Alexa made her way into the control room, slinked along the back wall until she came to the door that led out to the balcony. Once through she hugged the wall, just in case someone noticed the door opening.

"Open fire!" Moros yelled. "They must not be allowed to escape!"

Alexa shook her head as the doors closed. Suddenly a smile spread across her face as she came up with a brilliant idea. With just a thought she set the illusion jumper through the stained glass on the opposite side of the tower.

Allowing the illusion to fade as the "jumper" disappeared into the sky, Alexa moved toward the railing overlooking the city. She quickly climbed atop the railing looking down at the city below her.

"Child, wait!"

Alexa whirled around to see Janus behind her. "Janus, I can't stay here. My people are counting on me."

"Killing yourself won't help the future Alexa." Janus insisted.

Alexa allowed a smile to spread across her face. "Who said anything about killing myself?" With that she stepped backwards.

Janus gasped and moved to save her, except she didn't fall. Suddenly a jumper uncloaked.

Alexa stepped backwards into the jumper. "Don't allow them to stop you from creating the time travel device Janus; countless lives depend on it…on multiple occasions.

Janus nodded as the back hatch closed and the jumper once again cloaked. He allowed a smile to spread across his face as he realized that a life form lower on the evolutionary chain had managed to "pull the wool" over the eyes of his compatriots.

"Let's get out of here Jack." Alexa called once the hatch was closed.

"Don't have to tell me twice." Jack replied as he powered up the time travel device.



Just before the device was fully powered and Jack sent them forward in time, Alexa connected mentally with the two drones heading their way. Mere seconds before jumping through time, she detonated the drones.


	20. The Eye of the Storm

_Disclaimer: See Prologue..._

_A/N: As promised…the next chapter. I know it's a little shorter than the others have been, but I wanted to get it to you as quick as possible, and I liked the stopping point. I'm hoping to have the next chapter out in a couple of days. Enjoy!_

**Chapter 19: The Eye of the Storm –**

Once the time field disappeared, Jack made sure that the jumper was cloaked before turning to look at Alexa.

"You okay?" Jack questioned while studying her closely.

Alexa nodded. "I'll be fine, Moros did a good job in helping me train."

"Moros?" Jack asked.

"Moros and Myrddin were one and the same." Alexa sighed.

"But…how?"

"It's a long story that will only give you a headache." Alexa smiled. "Suffice it to say, he had us fooled…even me."

"I am glad you are well Alexa Stephens." Teal'c nodded. "But should we not be completing our missing?"

"Of course Teal'c." Alexa smiled. With just a look for communication, Teal'c and Alexa traded places, so that she was sitting in the copilot's seat.

Hitting a few buttons, Alexa silently scanned the display in front of her."There." She said, pointing to a spot on the display. "That's the stargate we're looking for."

"You're sure?" Jack asked.

Alexa nodded. "I'm finding two naquadah readings…one in Antarctica and one there."

"The chappa'ai is moving." Teal'c interjected.

Alexa hit a few more keys. "It looks like the ship is already on its way."

"McKay and Carter were wrong?" Jack asked with a raised eyebrow.

Alexa rolled her eyes. "This is the 1940s Jack, records weren't always completely accurate. They could have been scheduled to leave tomorrow but actually left yesterday. For all we know, Ba'al had the reports falsified."

"So how are we going to get aboard?" Jack asked.

Alexa simply smiled in reply.

**Λ**

Standing in the back of the jumper, Jack surveyed the life raft below him. "Is this really necessary?" He asked as he glanced over his shoulder at Alexa.

"We have to get you and Teal'c on that ship, Jack." Alexa responded. As a mischievous smile spread across her face, she continued. "Of course, if you'd rather take a swim…"

"No thanks, I'm good." Jack grumbled.

Alexa smiled in response. "Don't forget your transmitters Jack."

"Doing that now." Jack replied as he slipped a wireless ear piece into his ear. "How you doin' Teal'c?"

"I am ready." Teal'c responded as he stood on the hatch door.

Jack looked up and eyed Teal'c. "Don't forget your hat, T."

Teal'c nodded before putting the 40s style beanie on.

"Okay guys, two minutes before you'll be on the ship's radar." Alexa called. "Start the S.O.S. signal." Jack activated the 40s distress beacon. "They'll be within visual range soon. It's time to get in the life raft."

Teal'c stepped into the life raft first and made himself comfortable. Jack looked back over his shoulder at Alexa.

"Don't worry Jack, I'll be your eyes and ears out here."

Jack nodded and stepped into the life raft.

**Λ**

"Your ship went down?"

"My own damn fault." Jack responded. "I'd been attempting to repair her, but a ship named the Prometheus was doomed to disaster."

"You named a ship Prometheus?" The first mate exclaimed in surprise.



"Are you kidding?" Jack replied. "I fought tooth and nail against the idea. But my boss isn't a sailor and doesn't understand the ways of the sea."

The two sailors nodded their understanding.

"I'm sorry to put you out Captain Brown." Jack continued. "But my friend Murray and I are ready and willing to help pull our own weight."

"I'll hold you to that Mr. O'Neill." Captain Brown responded. "Mr. Smith here will take you to crew quarters."

**Λ**

Three days had passed since Jack and Teal'c had boarded the _Mariner_. Both men had quickly settled into life on a cargo ship, but kept vigilant watch for anything unusual.

Meanwhile, Alexa had not allowed herself to become bored or complacent. Instead, she had been working steadily, only taking a couple hours at a time to sleep while the jumper ran continuous long range scans.

Every morning and evening, Alexa would check in with Jack and Teal'c, knowing Jack would grow concerned if she didn't check in regularly.

Finally, the evening of the fourth day the jumper's scanners beeped just before Alexa was scheduled to contact Jack. Quickly scanning the computer, she cursed under her breath as she opened a channel to Jack, hoping that contacting him early wasn't going to be a problem.

Jack was in the mess hall when he heard the transceiver in his ear activate. He glanced over at Teal'c who had turned to catch his eye…he too was aware that Alexa was about to contact them.

"Excuse me gentlemen, nature calls." Jack said as he stood.

Hardly anyone noticed as Jack stood and left the mess hall. Moving toward the deck, he didn't stop until he was in a deserted area.

"You're early." Jack spoke out toward the sea.

"_Sorry Jack, but I think we have a problem."_ Alexa responded.

"What kind of problem?"

"_There's a storm heading your way…and I'm not sure it's a natural occurrence."_

"You think it's Ba'al?"

"_It would make sense…but I'm not sure yet."_

"Didn't Carter say something about the _Mariner_ being blown off course?"

"_That's why I check the weather pattern…it's not following weather norms."_

"Keep me posted."

"_Of course."_ Alexa replied. _"But you might want to head south in the meantime."_

**Λ**

"Heading south will send us straight into the heart of the storm!" Mr. Smith, the first mate, exclaimed.

"And if we head north we run the risk of getting lost in the ice!" Jack retorted.

"Enough!" Captain Brown interrupted. "You both make valid arguments. Which is why we will continue our current heading."

"Even our current heading runs the risk of us being blown off course and lost in the north." Jack argued.

"Your concern is noted Mr. O'Neill." Captain Brown acknowledged. "But my decision is final."

**Λ**

"Damn it!" Alexa exclaimed as she listened to Captain Brown's decision. "Fine!" She sighed angrily. "Jack, I'm going to go find out what's going on, I'll contact you when I get back."

"_I don't agree with your decision, Captain, but it appears I have little choice."_ Jack responded. _"I'll return to my quarters to await my shift."_

Alexa smiled at the double meaning of Jack's words…they were meant for both her and Captain Brown. With a smile still firmly in place, she turned the jumper toward the storm. As the jumper flew closer to the storm, Alexa ran constant scans, hoping to find the source of the storm.

The jumper bucked and rolled as the storm surged around it. The further into the storm Alexa flew, the stronger it became, until suddenly all activity ceased. Alexa glanced around in surprise until she realized she was in the eye of the storm. Her surprise turned to relief to astonishment.

"Ba'al." Alexa gasped as she saw the ha'tak in the center of the storm.


	21. Of Storms & Goa'uld

_Disclaimer: See Prologue..._

_A/N: I am SO SORRY for the delay guys. Between school ending, family coming for graduation, moving, etc. what I had written for this chapter disappeared. I tried to find it, but wasn't able to so I had to start over. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, I hope to have this story finished pretty quickly, because I don't want to see the next Stargate movie until I've finished this! Enjoy!_

**Chapter 20: Of Storms & Goa'uld –**

"Are you sure?" Jack hissed as he stood watch in the crow's nest.

"_Of course I'm sure."_ Alexa replied.

"Damn it." Jack muttered as he kept diligent watch. "So what now?"

"_You need to try again to convince the captain to steer the _Mariner _south. In the meantime, I'm going to see what I can find out about the ha'tak. But I'm going to need Teal'c's help."_ Alexa answered.

"_I am ready Alexa Stephens."_ Teal'c broke into the conversation.

"And just how do you plan on getting to the jumper?" Jack demanded.

"_Don't worry, Jack, I have everything under control."_ Alexa smiled.

**Λ**

"Do you know anything about this, O'Neill?" The first mate demanded.

"About what, Mr. Smith?" Jack asked as he came down from the crow's nest.

"One of the lifeboats is missing." Smith responded.

"I was busy watching the storm approach Mr. Smith." Jack replied. "In the cover of darkness and the coming storm….it would have been easy to slip away." Jack paused. "Do we know who left?"

"Murray." Smith hissed. "He was your mate, any idea why he would have left?"

Jack sighed. "The storm. Murray was superstitious. It wouldn't surprise me if he decided to head straight into the storm."

"Straight into the storm!?" Smith exclaimed.

"He's just crazy enough to attempt something like that…especially after our ship already went down."

**Λ**

Teal'c climbed out of the life raft and into the back of the jumper. Grabbing his staff weapon from the rack over his head he aimed it at the lifeboat and shot off a couple rounds, destroying the boat, but leaving pieces of debris for the _Mariner_ to find.

Stepping away from the edge, Teal'c closed the back hatch before moving forward to join Alexa.

"Any idea how we can get aboard the ha'tak, Teal'c?" Alexa asked as Teal'c took the copilot's seat.

"Perhaps."

**Λ**

"Captain! There's something ahead off the starboard bow!" One of the sailors yelled from the crow's nest.

Immediately Captain Brown, Mr. Smith and Jack were at the railing with a telescope to see what it was. Captain Brown slowly lowered the telescope from his eye and looked at the two gentlemen next to him.

"It looks like the debris from a lifeboat." Brown announced. He glanced over at Jack. "I'm truly sorry O'Neill."

Jack stood in what he hoped looked like shocked silence. After waiting a moment, he wiped his hand across his face, using the motion to hide the fact that he was activating the transceiver in his ear.

"_I take it you've located the lifeboat."_ Alexa's voice came across the transceiver.

"Nice job with the debris field." Jack replied. "Where are you?"

"_Navigating our way through the storm to the ha'tak."_ Alexa answered.

"Any idea yet how you're going to get on board?"

"_Teal'c's working on that."_

"Keep me posted."

**Λ**

"Teal'c!" Alexa called to the back of the jumper.



"Yes Alexa Stephens?" Teal'c asked as he came forward.

Alexa nodded out the front window, where they could see the ha'tak looming.

"Have you scanned the ha'tak?" Teal'c questioned.

"Not yet, I was just about to do that." Alexa answered as she turned to the computer.

"Is it possible to scan for me?"

Alexa's hand froze in what it had been doing. Turning, she stared at Teal'c in surprise. "Excuse me?"

"The best way to infiltrate the ha'tak is if I am already on board." Teal'c explained.

Alexa rolled her eyes. "This is our past Teal'c, if you were on that ship, you'd remember. Besides, this is 60 some odd years ago."

"I am much older than I look, Alexa Stephens. But I was not on that ship. I believe this is before Ba'al defeated Apophis."

"So we're still at square one….trying to find a way on to that ha'tak."

"Perhaps a distraction, Alexa Stephens." Teal'c suggested.

"A distraction?"

"Indeed. We will have an opportunity if Ba'al launches the death gliders."

Alexa pondered her options for a moment. Suddenly a smile spread across her face. "I know just what we need."

**Λ**

"My lord, sensors are picking up another ha'tak above the planet."

"WHAT?!" Roared Ba'al. "No one knows that we are here!"

"They do now my lord." The Jaffa replied warily. "They have launched death gliders my lord."

"Launch death gliders to match theirs!" Ba'al demanded as he stepped forward to the view window. "No one is even supposed to know that I am in this year, much less that I am on Earth." He growled to himself. A frown creased his forehead as he considered who it could be.

**Λ**



"A hatch is opening Teal'c!" Alexa called.

"As soon as the death gliders have exited we must enter." Teal'c replied.

"Gotcha." Alexa said. Turning her attention to the ha'tak she watched as three death gliders flew out of the large ship. The second they were out of the way she sped the jumper through before her way was blocked.

"Set the jumper down in that corner behind the death gliders." Teal'c said from directly behind her.

"Got it." Alexa did as told. Once she had set the ship down she turned to find Teal'c in the back of the ship already dressed in his Jaffa armor and the back hatch lowered. "So what now?"

"You will stay here with the ship while I attempt to locate the device that is creating this storm." Teal'c announced.

"Oh no you don't." Alexa exclaimed as she jumped out of her seat. "We can cover more territory if we both go."

"Alexa Stephens….."

"No Teal'c." Alexa interrupted. "You are not leaving me here."

Teal'c stared at her for a moment, before reaching his hand out and grabbing a passing Jaffa. Without a moment's hesitation he broke the Jaffa's neck and lowered him to the floor of the jumper.

"Put on his armor." Teal'c demanded stoically.

"Oh hell no." Alexa exclaimed as she stared at the dead Jaffa at her feet. Catching Teal'c's raised eyebrow, she continued. "Do you realize how hindered I would be in that get-up? No thanks. I'll just take that ventilation shaft over there." She pointed to an entrance a few feet away.

"Very well." Teal'c replied. "But stay in radio contact."

"Aye, aye Cap'n T!" Alexa shot off a salute before heading out toward the ventilation shaft.

Teal'c followed silently, wondering at the Tau'ri woman before him. Once he had cleared the jumper, Alexa used the keyless remote to close the hatch.

"Catch ya on the flip side, T!"

With one final raised eyebrow at Alexa's retreating form, Teal'c closed his helmet and headed out of the docking bay.

**Λ**

Alexa found herself traveling through the vents of the ha'tak following the energy signature that her equipment was detecting. Several times she ended up traveling through or directly past rooms that were occupied with Jaffa. After the first time nearly gave her a heart attack and nearly ended up with her getting caught, she managed to make it through without a second thought.

The fourth time she was passing through a populated area, Teal'c decided to contact her.

"What is your location Alexa Stephens?"

_Great._ Alexa thought as she attempted to move as quickly and as quietly as she could through the passage.

"Alexa Stephens, what is your location?"

_Frick!_ Alexa tried to speed up a little more. Once she was well past the room, she stopped and activated her radio. "For cryin' out loud, Teal'c! Are you trying to get me killed?"

"I do not understand."

Alexa sighed. "These ventilation shafts run right through and past occupied rooms, it's hard enough getting past them safely without you demanding my attention."

"I apologize, Alexa Stephens. How is your progress?"

"Good, I'm only about 100 yards from the device."

"Ba'al most likely has traps set up around the device." Teal'c admonished.

"I know…I'm keeping an eye out for them. But you should probably head in my direction just to be safe. If I get caught it will be up to you."

"Understood."

**Λ**

Ba'al looked down at the console in front of him as a flashing light caught his eye. He smirked, as he saw what it was.

"It appears we have an unwelcome guest." Ba'al said over his shoulder to his first prime. "Bring the intruder to me!"


	22. Check

_Disclaimer: See Prologue..._

_A/N: YAY! The next chapter is done….and much less time than the last one. I'm not exactly sure…but I think that I should be done in another chapter + epilogue. ENJOY!_

**Chapter 21: Check… –**

"Damn it!" Alexa exclaimed. "Teal'c we have a problem."

"_What has occurred Alexa Stephens?"_ Teal'c responded.

"I've tripped something, it won't be long before they locate me."

"_I will be there shortly…"_

"No Teal'c. We can't afford to have both of us captured. I'm hiding my equipment and the remote for the jumper. It's imperative that you find and deactivate Ba'al's device." Alexa interrupted. "No matter what…that must be your first priority." Alexa was silent for a moment. "Remember, Teal'c, when we succeed…our timeline will no longer exist."

"_Understood."_

**Λ**

Alexa walked calmly into the control room of the ha'tak, escorted by two armed Jaffa. Her hands were tied tightly behind her back. Although she was cooperating with her captors, they pushed her roughly to the center of the room and forced her down to her knees.

Ba'al stood up from his throne, his eyes flashing. "How did you get aboard my ship?" He demanded in his dual-tone voice.

"Been on here awhile." Alexa replied.

"HOW did you get aboard my ship!?" Ba'al asked again, more forcefully.

Alexa simply raised an eyebrow.

"You will talk!" Ba'al demanded as he raised the hand with the hand device.

"Nope. Don't think so." Alexa quipped.

"You dare speak so to your god?"

Alexa sighed and rolled her eyes. "Really? We're gonna go there? 'Cause honestly I can refute just about every statement you'll make."

Ba'al growled and stepped closer to where Alexa knelt. "You will pay for your insolence."

"Actually…I was just about to say the same thing." Alexa smirked.

Ba'al sent off a blast from his hand device and stared in shock as it failed to hit its mark. "WHAT?!"

Alexa's smirk grew. "Come now Ba'al. You didn't really think that we would let you get away with changing the timeline?"

"But how? No one should even know about the change." Ba'al replied in disbelief.

"Once again Ba'al, you overestimated your own greatness." Alexa taunted.

Ba'al took another step toward Alexa, hoping to scare her.

"If you're trying to intimidate me…it's not gonna work." Alexa said.

"You do not know who you are dealing with little girl." Ba'al growled.

"On the contrary…though this may be your first time meeting me…it's my second time meeting you." Alexa smiled.

Ba'al frowned. "You're from the future."

"Yeah sure ya betcha."

"You could not have done this alone."

"Oh I probably could have, but it was definitely easier with help."

"And who was crazy enough to listen to a little girl?"

"SG1." Alexa stated matter-of-factly.

"They do not exist in the new timeline."

"Once again you overestimated yourself and underestimated SG1." Alexa smirked. "You take technology that does not belong to you and that you do not understand."

"Explain." Ba'al growled.

"Happily." Alexa replied. "SG1 was on another planet when you changed history…when they came back through the stargate, they had retained their memories of their timeline. It was actually quite helpful."

"So SG1 has their memories and they send a child to defeat me?" Ba'al laughed.

Alexa rolled her eyes. "I am NOT a child! And they didn't send me…I was the only one who could do this."

Ba'al continued to laugh. "Then it was fruitless sending you."

"Nah. I already kicked your ass once…I can do it again."

Ba'al choked on his laughter. "That is not possible."

"I told you I could refute your claims of being a god." Alexa smirked.

"You cannot defeat me!"

"Whatever you say Ba'al." Alexa shrugged.

"Insolent child!" Ba'al roared. "You will pay for this."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" Alexa rolled her eyes.

Ba'al, who was merely a step away, took that step and swung to slap Alexa. A look of shock spread across his face as he missed. "How?!"

Alexa smiled. "The race that created the stargate was an advanced race, with tremendous mental abilities. And contrary to popular opinion they are not extinct, they ascended."

"The race you call the Ancients." Ba'al muttered. Alexa nodded in response. "If they were involved we would not be having this conversation."

"Again you are underestimating your opponents." Alexa returned. "They may not have interfered on their own account, but that doesn't mean they won't interfere on my behalf."

Ba'al stalked back up to his throne and sat down with a flourish. "Jaffa Kree!" All of his Jaffa came to attention at the command. "Kill her."

Four Jaffa, two on each side of Ba'al's throne, raised their staff weapons and aimed them at Alexa, who rolled her eyes.

Before the Jaffa could even open their staff weapons, all four flew backwards and hit the wall behind Ba'al's throne. They fell to the base of the wall, unconscious. Alexa turned her eyes to Ba'al.

"Convinced yet?"

**Λ**

Jack stood on the deck of the boat, watching the stars. He couldn't help but wonder how many of those stars were actually planets…planets that he had traveled to in the other timeline. He sighed as he once again thought of Alexa and Teal'c and wondered how they were doing. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps. Not wanting to be interrupted, Jack slid back into the shadows.

Mr. Smith, the first mate, walked out to the railing and looked around as if to make sure no one was around. Wanting even less to be discovered, Jack slipped further into the shadows.

"My lord…" Mr. Smith spoke into the air. He paused as if interrupted. "I tried my lord, but we had a problem…" He paused again. "It was nothing I could have foreseen…" Another pause. "Tell lord Ba'al that we will be heading north shortly, I just have to go speak to the captain. Don't worry, this ship will be lost just as he wanted."

Jack was seething by the end of the conversation Smith was having. Grabbing the knife that he had stuck in his boot, Jack waited until Smith turned around and headed past him. Once he was even with him, Jack stepped out and stuck the knife to Smith's throat, pinning his arms behind him in the process.

"You goddamn traitor!" Jack hissed.

Smith smirked. "You got nothin' O'Neill. It'll be your word against mine."

"More like your word against your own." Jack bit out as he lowered the knife just long enough to reach into his pocket. He pulled out a device and hit a button on it. _"Don't worry, this ship will be lost just as he wanted."_ Jack put the device back in his pocket and the knife back against Smith's throat. "Now move!"

Jack led Smith straight to Captain Brown's quarters. He knocked on the door, thankful that they hadn't passed any sailor's on the way.

"Enter."

Jack pushed the door open and came face to face with a very surprised captain.

"What the hell is going on O'Neill?!" Brown barked.

"I'm afraid I haven't been completely honest with you, Captain." Jack replied. "My name is Colonel Jack O'Neill, I was sent here on a mission to make sure that your cargo arrived at its destination safely."

"What does this have to do with you holding my first mate hostage?" Brown demanded.

"Your first mate, Captain, is a traitor…to you, to this ship, to his country, and to humanity." Jack responded.

"I don't understand."

"He's aiding and abetting a known psychotic criminal that my team has been trying to bring down for years." Jack explained. Pulling the recording device out of his pocket he turned it on. _"Tell lord Ba'al that we will be heading north shortly, I just have to go speak to the captain. Don't worry, this ship will be lost just as he wanted."_

"What is that device?" Brown asked, curiosity and wonder lacing his voice.

"Due to the sensitive nature of my work, my team always has the best of technology."

Brown nodded and turned to Smith. "I've known and trusted you for years Smith. I have to say I'm very surprised by and disappointed in your treachery." He turned to Jack. "Is it too late to stop whatever they were planning, Colonel?"

"No. My team is already on it…part of the reason Murray left your ship the way he did." Jack answered. "With your consent, Captain, Mr. Smith and I will have a conversation. I need to know what he knows."

"Go ahead, Colonel. This is your case…I'll let you handle it how you see fit." Brown acknowledged.

**Λ**

Jack had taken Smith to a deserted storage room and tied his hands behind him and his feet to the legs of a chair. He watched the former first mate, wondering just how much Ba'al had convinced him of.

"I'm not gonna tell you anything, O'Neill!" Smith spat.

"They all say that, Smith." Jack responded nonchalantly.

"Ba'al will defeat you…he's a god. I saw him come from the sky." Smith returned.

"Like I haven't heard that before." Jack shook his head. "He's an advanced alien with advanced technology…but that doesn't make him a god." Jack began to pace. "Don't you realize that he's trying to destroy our planet and all humanity with it?"

"He has promised me glory." Smith smiled.

Jack rolled his eyes. "And you actually believed him? Come on Smith, you're smarter than that…HE'S USING YOU. He'll get what he wants out of you and then he'll either kill you or enslave you. He's the bad guy…they always lie."



In that moment, Smith lunged out of the chair he was in and toward Jack, a knife in his hand. Jack cringed as he felt the knife penetrate deep into his stomach. Smith pulled away with a satisfied grin pasted to his face.

"Try and stop us now, O'Neill. You've lost." Smith grinned as he turned to finish releasing himself from his bonds.

"The hidden knife trick…I should have known." Jack grunted.

Smith turned to smirk at him, but stopped dead in his tracks, having a split second to realize what happened before he fell forward…dead.

Jack, always the soldier, never lost his wits. Once Smith turned his back, Jack pulled the knife out of his stomach and waited for an opening. The moment he saw Smith turning, he threw the knife…and hit Smith straight through the heart, killing him almost instantly.

Moving carefully, Jack pulled cloth from one of the shelves and ripped in into strips. Folding some of it, he placed it tightly against his stomach and tied it in place with the strips. Standing up, Jack moved toward the door.

"Johnny." Jack called as he saw a young sailor walking down the hall.

The young man turned around, and taking in Jack's condition, immediately moved to his side. "What happened Jack?"

"Long story." Jack groaned. "Smith is in there," he motioned to the room behind him. "He's dead. Get a couple of the guys and prepare him for burial at sea."

"Dead?!" Johnny exclaimed.

"I don't have time to explain it, I've got to go see Captain Brown. Just do this for me, okay?"

Johnny nodded. "You should see McAlister, Jack."

"I will Johnny, after I see the Captain. Now go!"

Johnny hurried down the hall to grab a few of his buddies to help him. Meanwhile, Jack headed back to the Captain's quarters.

"Enter."

Jack stumbled through the door, hanging on to the frame to keep his balance.

"What the hell happened, Colonel?!" Brown exclaimed as he came forward.

"Smith had a hidden knife, Captain. I had no choice but to kill him."

Brown nodded his understanding as he helped Jack to a chair. "You need to get to McAlister, Colonel."

"I know, Captain. I'm headed there when I'm done here." Jack replied. "Whatever happens to me…you must make sure that you get your cargo gets to the States. A lot is riding on that…"

"What is this cargo that is so important?" Brown interrupted.

"I can't tell you that." Jack responded. "It's highly classified. But it's important to a lot of people." Jack coughed.

"Let's get you to McAlister, Colonel."

Jack nodded and stood with the Captain's help. The two men were halfway to the door, when Jack collapsed.

"Colonel!" Brown exclaimed as he knelt next to Jack.

"Alexa." Jack breathed as he went unconscious.


	23. Checkmate

_Disclaimer: See Prologue..._

_A/N: Woohoo! The second to last chapter is done. All that is left is the epilogue! I hope to have it written and up within the next couple of days, but I'm going away for a long weekend, so I may not be able to post until early next week. Enjoy!_

_Last time:_

_Four Jaffa, two on each side of Ba'al's throne, raised their staff weapons and aimed them at Alexa, who rolled her eyes. _

_Before the Jaffa could even open their staff weapons, all four flew backwards and hit the wall behind Ba'al's throne. They fell to the base of the wall, unconscious. Alexa turned her eyes to Ba'al._

"_Convinced yet?"_

**Λ**

_Jack nodded and stood with the Captain's help. The two men were halfway to the door, when Jack collapsed. _

"_Colonel!" Brown exclaimed as he knelt next to Jack._

"_Alexa." Jack breathed as he went unconscious._

**Chapter 22: Checkmate –**

"Convinced yet?" Alexa smirked at Ba'al.

"_Alexa…"_

_Jack?_ Alexa responded to the voice in her head. _Jack?!_ She repeated when she got no response. Immediately she created a stronger link with Jack's mind, all the time keeping a close watch on Ba'al. She dug until she found his memories and realized what happened.

"Son of a…" Alexa growled as she stood.

Using her mind, she unbound her hands, lifted Ba'al out of his throne and threw him against the wall. He hung there, clutching at his throat as if clutching at an invisible hand.

"This ends here!" Alexa said as she walked toward Ba'al.

"_Alexa."_

Alexa stopped in her tracks and looked to her right. "Janus? What are you doing here?"

"_I've been watching for this day for 10,000 years."_ Janus replied.

"I thought the Ancients didn't interfere in the lower planes of existence." Alexa snapped. She missed the look of shock in Ba'al's eyes at her comment.

"_We usually don't. But you've been a point of interest to many of us for 10,000 years."_ Janus answered. _"A few have wanted to stop you, but those who insist on noninterference far outweigh them."_

"Then why are you here?" Alexa demanded.

"_Are you going to take his life out of anger?"_ Janus asked.

"You've been around for 10,000 years…you've see what the Goa'uld are capable of and what they have done. Can you honestly blame me for wanting him dead?" Alexa quipped.

"_Indeed I cannot. But must the man suffer for what the snake has done?"_

Alexa sighed. "Fine."

Turning her attention back to Ba'al, Alexa stared at him for a moment. As she watched him, he continued to struggle within her grasp, until finally his eyes flashed and he went still. Slowly she lowered him to the ground.

"There…happy?" Alexa asked moodily. She watched as Janus approached the unconscious form of the Goa'uld.

"_The Goa'uld within him is dead."_ Janus stated.

"So what do we do with him now?" Alexa asked. "We can't just leave him here…especially not with this blasted ship."

"_How is Teal'c's progress?"_

"Teal'c!" Alexa gasped. "I completely forgot about him in all this." She clicked her radio on. "Teal'c, do you copy."

"_Indeed Alexa Stephens."_ Teal'c replied.

"What's your status?"

"_I am nearing the target. What is your status?"_

"I'm good. I killed Ba'al without harming the host."

"_That is good news, Alexa Stephens. I will contact you when I have completed my mission."_

"Before you go Teal'c," Alexa replied quickly. "Jack's been injured, we need to finish up here quickly."

"_Understood."_

"_Alexa, will not this ship be visible once Teal'c has disengaged the device?"_ Janus spoke up again.

"Damn." Alexa sighed. "And I have no idea how to fly this thing."

"Perhaps I can be of assistance."

Alexa spun around and stared openmouthed at Ba'al's former host.

"Do not fear." Ba'al's host spoke quickly, as if he could sense Alexa's hesitancy concerning him. "The demon no longer exists within me, for which I am eternally grateful."

Alexa relaxed at his words. She even managed to smile. "I'm glad to help."

"Perhaps I can begin to repay my debt to you by flying this ship. Although the demon no longer remains within me, I still retain all the memories of my time as his host."

"Fantastic." Alexa gave him a full blown smile, before becoming thoughtful. "I don't know your name…"

"I have not been called by my own name for nearly 60 of your years." Ba'al's host too became thoughtful. "My name is Nika'al."

"Well, Nika'al, we would appreciate your help. If you don't mind taking us out of Earth's atmosphere, I'm gonna go locate Teal'c." Alexa replied.

"Of course."

**Λ**

"Teal'c!" Alexa called as she rounded a corner and saw Teal'c not 20 feet away.

Teal'c turned and nodded in recognition. "It is good to see you well Alexa Stephens."

"Teal'c I need you to finish what we started here and then report to the control room. Ba'al's host, Nika'al, is flying the ha'tak out of Earth's atmosphere." Alexa spoke rapidly. "I need to return to the _Mariner_ to help Jack."

"What is to become of us, Alexa Stephens?" Teal'c asked.



"What do you mean?"

"Both Nika'al and myself are out of our time, we do not belong."

"Oh." Alexa bit her lip. "I hadn't thought of that. Jack's in that same situation."

"Indeed."

Alexa sighed. "I don't know Teal'c. I also have no idea how many of these Jaffa are also from the future."

"Perhaps it would be best if we all found a planet where we can live out what is left of our lives." Teal'c suggested.

"Teal'c…you guys have long lives."

"With no symbiotes to replace the ones we have, we will not survive long." Teal'c explained.

"Do you think you can convince these Jaffa to do that?"

"If I cannot, then their lives will be forfeit."

Alexa nodded. "Then this is goodbye?"

"We will meet again Alexa Stephens."

"But we won't have any memory of knowing each other."

"Perhaps not, but I surmise that you will once again find your way into my heart."

Alexa smiled and gave Teal'c a hug. "Bye. Good luck."

"The same to you Alexa Stephens."

**Λ**

As Alexa flew away from the ha'tak and toward the _Mariner_, she saw the storm slowly rising into the atmosphere and dissipating. Saying a last and silent farewell to Teal'c, Alexa hurried toward her destination. As she did so, she contemplated how she was going to get aboard the _Mariner_. She couldn't very well uncloak the jumper…that would cause way too many problems. Then it came to her.

In the cover of darkness, Alexa landed the jumper carefully in a dark corner in the aft section of the ship. Lowering the hatch she stepped out quickly and closed it, trying to be as stealthy as possible. Using the tenuous mental connection she had with Jack, Alexa navigated her way through the ship.

"Who are you and what are you doing on my ship?!"

Alexa sighed as she stopped a few feet from the room where Jack was. Turning she saw an older gentleman wearing a Captain's hat.

"Captain Brown, I presume." Alexa said. "My name is Alexa Stephens…I work for Colonel O'Neill."

Captain Brown sighed. "I don't want to know how you got on my ship, do I?"

"Probably not, Sir." Alexa agreed. "How's the Colonel?"

"I'm afraid he's not doing well, Miss Stephens. The wound was deep. If we were near a hospital he might have a chance. But as it stands I'm afraid our medic is not qualified for this kind of work." Captain Brown explained sadly.

"May I see him?" Alexa queried.

"Of course."

Alexa stood over Jack, taking in the sight of his pale skin, the bloody cloth at his stomach, and his irregular breathing. She bit her lip as she watched him. Without taking her eyes from him she addressed the Captain and the medic. "May I have a moment alone with him? Please?"

The medic was about to say no, but was interrupted by the Captain. "Of course, we'll be right outside."

"Thank you." Alexa replied.

She waited until the two men left the room before stepping closer to Jack and raising her hands. She placed them over the wound in his stomach and closed her eyes, concentrating on the task before her. Just as she felt the power begin to flow through her, she was jolted out of her trance by a hand grasping her wrist.

"No Alexa." Jack croaked.

"But I can save you Jack." Alexa begged.

"I don't belong in this time…and I don't belong in the changed timeline." Jack gasped for breath with each word. "Our task is done, let me go."

"But Jack…"



"Over there…on the counter…the tape recorder…take that to Antarctica and leave it in the jumper…for you to find." Jack coughed. "It's been…fun…Lieutenant…we saved…the day…I'll see you…in the other…time…" Jack's voice faded away.

Before she reached over to check his pulse, Alexa knew Jack was gone. Wiping a solitary tear off her cheek, Alexa reached over and closed Jack's eyes, before turning and picking up the tape recorder. At the door, she turned back to say one final goodbye, before joining the two men in the hall.

"He's gone." Alexa said matter-of-factly. She looked up at the Captain. "Get this ship to port, Captain, and his death won't be useless."

Captain Brown nodded and watched silently as Alexa moved down the hall. He shook his head; he would never understand what had happened on his ship the last few days. But he did know that Colonel Jack O'Neill was a good man, and he would fulfill Jack's last request if it was the last thing he did.

"Prepare the Colonel for burial at sea, McAlister."

"Aye, aye Cap'n."

**Λ**

Alexa found herself once again standing in the ice cavern that housed the stargate in Antarctica. Following the footsteps that she had followed when she was 15, and that her future self would follow again, Alexa made her way to where the jumper was buried. Once inside she laid the tape recorder on the copilot's seat and left.

Getting back to the surface, Alexa climbed into her jumper and flew a few feet of the ground. Once in place, she initiated the lasers that were still attached to the jumper and cut a hole, just big enough for the jumper to pass through. She momentarily thought of the ramifications of her actions, but figured this would affect the future a lot less than using a drone. Once in the cavern, she dialed up Cimmeria.

On the Cimmeria side of the gate, Alexa allowed her jumper to be scanned before cloaking and flying off in the direction she and Daniel had followed just a few days before. Alexa shook her head as she thought about it…technically they wouldn't follow that path for over 60 years...actually, with the timeline fixed, they never would. She sighed and shook her head, she was liable to give herself a headache.

Finding a secluded clearing near the entrance, Alexa parked the jumper and left it. Once inside the cavern, she was very glad that she had paid attention to what Daniel was doing to get through the tests. Alexa waited until Thor had shed his Norse god exterior before she spoke.

"Before you ask…My name is Alexa Stephens. No, I'm not of the people here on Cimmeria, I'm from Earth, it was called Terra by the Alterans. I knew about this place because it was shown to 

me by someone you will get to know in about 60 years. Yes, I'm from the future, and I'm here to deliver this…" Alexa held up the Asgard stone that she had pulled out of the pocket of her leather jacket.

Thor stared at Alexa for a moment, blinking his large eyes at her. "How did you arrive here?"

"I have a small Alteran ship." Alexa answered.

"Fly to the tallest mountain near the stargate. You will find that the far side is not populated. Wait there for me."

**Λ**

Alexa followed Thor's directions. It took her seven minutes to arrive at the rendezvous point, where she waited for another 8 minutes. Just as she was beginning to wonder how long she was going to have to wait, a bright light filled her vision and the next thing she knew she was standing on the bridge of a very alien ship.

She watched in awe as Thor walked toward her. Even though she had seen him before, this was the first time she'd seen him in person, and he was a lot shorter than she thought. She couldn't help but smile as he held out his hand without saying a word.

Equally as quiet, Alexa handed the stone over and stood back to watch. After several long minutes, Thor looked up at her and beckoned her forward.

"You are sure about this?" Thor asked.

"About helping you? Yes." Alexa responded.

"You realize that you will never be able to return to your life."

"My life no longer exists. And in about 40 years I'll be born again. Earth doesn't need two of me." Alexa replied. She paused for a moment before continuing, "I want to be put in suspended animation. That way you can take all the time you'll need to figure this out and I won't know anything. When you're done, you can either keep me that way, or simply let me fade away, as I should have when we changed time."

"You are sure?" Thor asked again.

"Yes."


	24. Epilogue

_Disclaimer: See Prologue..._

_A/N: Woohoo! We're finally done. Now I know some of you are probably going to get on my case for leaving this story kind of open ended…but that just leaves room for more stories. I hope you guys have enjoyed reading this as much as I have enjoyed writing it…now I'm off to see "Continuum" and see what TPTB came up with. Enjoy, and don't forget to review!_

_Last time:_

_(Chapter 15)_

"_Then I guess that's it." Sam hesitated._

"_Don't worry Carter, when you get back to the planet everything will be right." Jack smirked._

**Λ**

_(Chapter 22)_

"_Over there…on the counter…the tape recorder…take that to Antarctica and leave it in the jumper…for you to find." Jack coughed. "It's been…fun…Lieutenant…we saved…the day…I'll see you…in the other…time…" Jack's voice faded away._

**Λ**

"_You are sure?" Thor asked again._

"_Yes."_

**Chapter 23: Epilogue –**

Before leaving the jumper, Sam had used the onboard computer to dial up the stargate. Once it was dialed up, she said her final goodbyes and exited the ship. She watched as the jumper took off and quickly disappeared. With a sigh she turned and headed down into the cavern that held the stargate.

"So when do you think we need to head back through the gate?" Cam asked as Sam came into view. He stood next to the stargate with a hand through the event horizon to hold it open.

Daniel and Sam shared a look. "Time's relative, Mitchell." Daniel said. "The moment they flew back in time it would have been changed."

Cam looked at the other two and shrugged. "Shall we?"

**Λ**

Brenda Parker had been working in the Pentagon for nearly 40 years. She prided herself in knowing all the brass that worked there _and_ knowing all the assistants, junior officers, and 

regular messengers. So when a young, fresh faced Air Force Lieutenant came walking into the office claiming to have a message for Major General Jack O'Neill, she was a little suspicious.

"I'll make sure he gets it." Mrs. Parker said, as she laid it on the corner of her desk.

"If you don't mind, Ma'am, the contents of that message are very important. I'm supposed to make sure that he gets it immediately." The Lieutenant replied.

"He's busy now, Lieutenant." Mrs. Parker snapped. "He'll get it."

The Lieutenant sighed. "The contents of that package are related to the base at Cheyenne Mountain."

Mrs. Parker's eyes narrowed. "Very well, wait here."

"I'm not going anywhere, Ma'am. I'm expecting a response."

Mrs. Parker decided that she didn't like it when her status quo was interrupted. Knocking on the inner office door, she waited for the command to enter before doing so.

"I thought I told you I wasn't to be disturbed Mrs. Parker." Jack snapped.

"You did, General. But there's a messenger in my office who delivered this." Mrs. Parker held up the envelope. "She said it has to do with Cheyenne Mountain and she's expecting a response."

Jack grumbled a response as he grabbed the extended envelope. "Tell her I'll be a moment."

"Yes, Sir." Mrs. Parker responded before turning and leaving Jack's office.

Jack stared at the envelope for a long moment, before opening it and dumping out a small tape recorder. He frowned at the thing before pressing the play button.

"_Jack…"_

Jack dropped the tape recorder as he heard his own voice coming out of it.

"_I know you're probably surprised at hearing your own voice on a recording you haven't done."_ The voice paused and Jack could hear ragged breathing. _"I don't have much time…so I won't…be able to…fully explain the situation…however…there is a young Lieutenant who can. She's the one…who delivered this. Her story may sound crazy…but you can trust her…she's on…our side."_

Jack waited several seconds to see if anything more would be said before he shut off the tape recorder. After a split second of thought, he rewound the tape and listened again. There was no doubt that the voice was his and that he was dying. Suddenly curious, Jack hit the intercom button.

"Mrs. Parker, send the Lieutenant in."

"_Yes, Sir."_

The door opened and Jack looked up to see a young Air Force Lieutenant walk in and move to the front of his desk before standing to attention and saluting.

"Lieutenant Alexa Stephens, Sir."

"At ease, Lieutenant." Jack answered as he shot off a salute. "Have a seat."

"Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir." Alexa responded as she took the offered seat.

"Care to explain what this is?" Jack asked as he held up the tape recorder.

"That, Sir, is a tape recorder that I found in an alien ship that I found in Antarctica 10 years ago."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "I think you better start at the beginning, Lieutenant."

**Λ**

Sam, Daniel, and Mitchell stepped through the other side of the stargate and looked around. They looked at each other, with slight frowns on their faces.

"Anyone else getting a strange sense of déjà vu?" Cam asked.

"Something does seem very odd." Daniel admitted.

"Hey, you guys coming or what?!"

The three turned and saw Vala and Teal'c standing next to the DHD.

"We were beginning to wonder if you were coming through at all." Vala continued.

"Sorry." Sam piped up. "That was my fault. I got caught up in what I was doing." She turned to the two men at her side. "You guys ready?"

"To see Ba'al executed? You betcha." Mitchell replied.

**Λ**

Jack sat with a blank expression on his face as Alexa finished her tale. "So let me get this straight." Jack finally broke the silence. "You're my descendant from me going back in time to retrieve a ZPM, messing up the timeline and then having to go back again to fix it. This tape 

recorder came from another time that I went back in time to stop Ba'al from messing up the timeline."

"That's it in a nutshell." Alexa nodded.

"And you know all of this because of stories that were passed down over the generations and because of a message left to you by you in the puddle jumper." Jack continued.

"Uh huh."

"I hate time travel." Jack muttered. "So what happens now?"

"I don't know." Alexa responded. "The future is an open book."

"So why bring this to me?"

"I'd like to be a part of the Stargate program." Alexa replied simply.

"Ah." Jack sighed. "Of course you would."

**Λ**

"You know," Mitchell said as SG1 stood waiting for the proceedings to begin. "This damn well better be the last…"

"Don't even think about it!" Sam and Daniel interrupted simultaneously, both smacking him upside the head.

"OW!" Cam exclaimed. "What the hell was that for?!"

"We can't afford to have you jinx this." Daniel continued.

"I don't believe in jinxes." Cam replied.

Sam and Daniel shared a look.

"Perhaps it is unwise to say such things Colonel Mitchell." Teal'c admonished.

"But…"

"What Teal'c is trying to say Cam, is that in the decade that we've been with the SGC we've seen a lot of things happen, and very rarely do they happen according to plan." Sam interrupted.

Cam harrumphed and crossed his arms, very clearly sulking. The other four teammates shared looks of amusement before turning back to the proceedings.



It wasn't long before the magistrate came out and began to read the counts against Ba'al. As he did so, several guards came out, escorting a cuffed Ba'al. Cheers went up throughout the crowd as he was brought forward and made to stand just behind the execution block.

As the magistrate finished reading from his list, he turned to Ba'al. "You have been found guilty of all these charges and are hereby sentenced to death by beheading."

Again, cheers went up around the plaza.

With a bit of struggling, the guards managed to get Ba'al kneeling down with his head hanging over the edge of the execution block.

"This seems rather archaic." Cam cringed. "But at least we know the snake will die with him."

"Indeed." Teal'c concurred solemnly.

As the executioner raised his axe above Ba'al's head, everything seemed to slip into slow motion.

**Λ**

Jack looked out the front of the jumper and smiled. This was just one of a few things that he had missed since leaving the SGC.

"SGC this is Puddle Jumper 1, come in." Alexa called over the radio.

"This is Sergeant Harriman at Stargate Command, go ahead puddle jumper 1."

Jack smiled at the familiar voice. He looked over at Alexa and motioned that he was going to take over the communications.

"Walter, this is General O'Neill. We're about five minutes out."

"Understood, General. I'm transmitting the coordinates to you now. You're escort will be waiting there for you and Lieutenant Stephens."

"Thank you Walter. O'Neill out." Jack turned with a shit eating grin on his face. "Take us in Lieutenant."

**Λ**

Before the executioner could lower the axe, a blinding white light flashed. As it dissipated familiar figure could be seen standing on the corner of the execution stage. Sam couldn't help but think how strange it was that the five foot alien was there.

"What is Thor doing here?" Daniel asked.

Cameron shrugged. "Beats me. Maybe he's here for the same reason we are."

SG1 watched as Thor nodded at the executioner and stood back to watch. Realizing this, they all turned their attention back to Ba'al, who was smirking at them.

"Something's up." Cam muttered. "I don't like that look on his face."

Slowly, the axe descended toward Ba'al's head, gaining speed as it moved. In a flash, the head was severed, the eyes glowed one last time as the snake was killed as well, the smirk never leaving his features.

Once sure that Ba'al was dead, Thor moved toward the five members of SG1.

"You look….different…Thor." Sam commented.

Thor looked at Sam for a long moment, his large eyes blinking steadily. "You retain remnants of your memories."

"What?" Sam asked with confusion lacing her voice.

"Come, we will return to Earth, there is much to talk about."

**Λ**

Hank Landry had learned to expect the unexpected during his years as head of the SGC. But as he sat in the briefing room listening to Alexa explain how she knew about the stargate, he was confused and shocked. As she finished up her tale, he turned and looked at Jack.

"You believe all of this?" Hank asked.

"As little as time travel makes sense…there is no other explanation for how she knows all of this." Jack shrugged.

"I was afraid you were going to say that." Hank sighed. "Would you mind giving us a moment, Lieutenant?" He asked as he stood and motioned Jack into his office.

"Of course, General." Alexa said as she stood to attention and watched the two men leave. Not knowing what else to do with herself, Alexa moved toward the window that overlooked the gateroom. As she watched the hustle and bustle of the room below her, she noticed something off to the side. "Look out!" She called, forgetting that no one could hear her below. Just as a shock of electricity shot out from the wall, the Sergeant who had been working nearby, flew across the room and out of harm's way.

Alexa's hand flew to her mouth as she watched the situation below her.



"Well, that was a neat trick."

Whirling around, Alexa took in the sight of five people in BDUs and an alien with a large head and big eyes. "I…"

"Welcome back, SG1." Hank said as he came out of his office, unaware of what had just taken place.

"General O'Neill!"

"Jack!"

"O'Neill."

SG1 said simultaneously.

"Daniel. Carter. Mitchell. Vala. T. Thor old buddy, long time no see." Jack responded.

"It is good to see you as well, O'Neill." Thor replied, barely taking his eyes from Alexa.

Jack looked at everyone looking at Alexa. "Did I miss something?"

"The Lieutenant here just saved Siler from another electrical shock." Mitchell answered. "By sending him flying across the gateroom."

Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Perhaps I can explain, O'Neill…" Thor interjected. Once everyone had been seated at the briefing table, he continued. "66 years ago, according to Earth time, I was visited on Cimmeria by a young woman claiming to be from the future…"


End file.
